Bob Pease, chief executive/president of the Brewers Association — the not-for-profit trade association representing small and independent American craft brewers — outlines the work the association does to promote diversity and inclusivity.
With International Women’s Day taking place on March 8, I thought it timely to outline the progress being made by the Brewers Association to promote diversity, equality and inclusivity within the American craft brewing industry. Much has been made over the last couple of years to advance this objective.
It began with the establishment of the Brewers Association’s Diversity Committee in 2017 to bring a more diverse group of brewers and beer lovers into the craft brewing community. The committee is made up of a cross-section of industry members of varied backgrounds and regions, and its goal is to collect, analyse, and disseminate data to promote diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion across all aspects of the craft brewing community.
Also in 2017, we updated our advertising and marketing code to help brewers maintain high standards and act responsibly. We believe that beer marketing should be representative of the values, ideals, and integrity of a diverse culture, and free of any derogatory or discriminatory messages or
imagery.
Then, in April 2018, the Brewers Association appointed its first diversity ambassador, Dr J Nikol Jackson-Beckham (pictured right). Her role is to travel the country visiting state guild and craft brewing communities, talking about best practices for diversifying both customer bases and staff, and listening to challenges in this area. Craft beer is for everyone, and diversity and inclusion are opportunities for businesses to lead and succeed. Dr J, as she’s more commonly known, helps educate our members on being an even more inclusive community.
In February 2019 we launched a new grants programme to fund local and regional events that intentionally promote and foster a more diverse and inclusive craft beer community. These include beer festivals, beer and food pairing events, agricultural fairs, ethnic and culturalheritage festivals, neighbourhood and community celebrations, entrepreneurship and innovation festivals, film festivals and many more. By helping to support these varied type of events, we can foster growth and stimulate a cultural shift towards beer.
The Brewers Association has also made available a new collection of best practice guides that lay the groundwork for addressing, creating and managing a diversity and inclusion programme. Authored by Dr J, they are designed to help businesses with everything from addressing why diversity matters and what it means to them, to setting up a framework to assess the success of a diversity and inclusion programme. Dr J focuses on addressing your fans (customers), hands (staff), and brands (beers).
Dr J will be speaking at this year’s Craft Brewers Conference, in Denver, from April 8-11. UK beer industry representatives are welcome to attend this annual educational conference and trade show. It’s the industry’s largest gathering of concentrated, affordable brewing education and idea showing to improve brewery quality and performance. Approximately 13,000 people attend to hear 80 different seminars across 12 different tracks, led by the top minds in the beer world. More details at www.craftbrewersconference.com
The Brewers Association produces a wealth of free resources to help the beer drinker enjoy and understand craft beer, which are available for download on www.craftbeer.com
About the Brewers Association
The Brewers Association (BA) is the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts.
The BA represents 4,000-plus US breweries. The BA’s independent craft brewer seal is a widely adopted symbol that differentiates beers by small and independent craft brewers.
The BA organises events including the World Beer Cup, Great American Beer Festival, Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America, SAVOR: An American Craft Beer and Food Experience, Homebrew Con, National Homebrew Competition and American Craft Beer Week.
The BA publishes The New Brewer magazine, and Brewers Publications is the largest publisher of brewing literature in the US.
Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com and about homebrewing via the BA’s American Homebrewers Association and the free Brew Guru mobile app.
