Due to the impact of COVID-19, many reports of Black businesses failing have been circulating in the news.

As state-wide closures have forced many businesses to temporarily shut down, Black business-owners have been stepping up to help each other make it through this difficult time. One of which happens to be Crown & Hops — a Black-owned Los Angeles-based beer brewery company — founded by Beny Ashburn and Teo Hunter.

As one of only 60 Black-owned breweries in the country, the owners of Crown & Hops are leading an initiative to lend a helping hand to fellow Black-owned beer businesses, according to a press release.

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The 8 Trill Pils Initiative — named after a statistic from the Business Case for Racial Equity — is a craft beer initiative dedicated to achieving racial equity within the industry, according to a press release. To help kick off this effort, a $100,000 development fund has been created that will be distributed to help establish more Black-owned breweries.

The launch of this initiative is supported by a $100,000 grant from BrewDog — a Scottish craft brewer — and will support Black owners as they open up their breweries, as revealed in a press release.

The motivation for this initiative is to largely increase representation for Black businesses in the craft beer industry.

“The craft beer industry is a prime example of racial disparity in our country – Black people are vastly underrepresented in the business of brewing, creating a significant, untapped economic opportunity,” Hunter said in a statement.

As a resolve for this, Crowns & Hops is leading the charge to create more opportunities for Black entrepreneurs who are overlooked and underserved in the beer industry.

“Initiatives like ‘Black is Beautiful’ have helped drive awareness to problems that plague the Black community. We want to build on that momentum and drive the conversation forward, specifically regarding racial equity,” Ashburn said in a press statement. “With The 8 Trill Pils Initiative, we hope to drive the craft beer community to take action in our own arena, and lead as an example for other industries with similar underrepresentation.”

For more information on The 8 Trill Pils Initiative, click here.

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