PHOENIX — They are raising a glass and raising support for meaningful change in our communities.
Wren House Brewing in Phoenix is using what they know best to show they are allies for people of color and for those identifying as LGBTQ by joining a global campaign called "Black is Beautiful." This is where brewers from all over have been asked to create unique beers with all of the proceeds going to charities, like the NAACP.
"We don't have the power of, you know, legislation or anything like that," said Head Brewer Preston Thoeny. "All we can do is make beer."
Wren House Brewing is looking to Akil Zakariya to take the lead.
"Wren came to me and said, 'We want to brew this beer, but we want the inclusion of, obviously, people of color, Black people, myself... to really take charge of it,' and I said I was all for it," Zakariya explained.
He called his creation "Black Excellence."
"Ethiopian coffee, Madagascar vanilla," Zakariya listed off. "Those are all sourced from Africa to kind of just showcase those and...be sort of empowering."
The beer sold out in its first release last week. It will be released again soon. But Zakariya said, he hopes it will become a yearly release that would fall around Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of slavery in the United States.
Taking things a step further for all members of the community, Wren House also brewed something up in support of Pride.
"Wren House would not be who were are without a diverse cast of characters," Thoeny said. "Including a lot of members from the LGBT community and so... to be able to support that is a no-brainer for us."
This beer is called "Colorful Silence," which is named from a quote by Claude Monet.
"Even today, when everything's kind of weird and you're by yourself and there's this level of silence... and even in those moments you find the color in everything," Thoeny explained.
That beer is available now for purchase to-go and those proceeds benefit Phoenix's one-n-ten organization, which is a non-profit working to create a more welcoming world for LGBTQ youth.
"It's that much better because of the messages," Zakariya said. "So it's kind of like, 'Oh you make good beer and you're doing this?' It's kind of a win-win."
To buy beer to-go, click here.
To support the NAACP, click here.
To support Black Lives Matter, click here.
To support one-n-ten, click here.
