Let’s call this what it is. The craft beer world loves to scream about “community,” “inclusivity,” and “diversity,” but when it comes to event marketing, that energy gets lost faster than a warm IPA at a summer fest. Every damn time there’s a beer festival flyer, it looks like the same crowd: beards, flannels, and the occasional token Black face in the corner. The vibe? Less “community” and more country club with hops.

The Problem Ain’t Just the Beer, It’s the Branding

📸 Photo Credit: Afro.Beer.Chick at *Beer Under Glass*
Caught this moment with this beautiful soul whose name I, unfortunately, don’t remember , but the energy was pure and the love for beer was real. Proof that good beer always brings good people together.

Craft beer events are supposed to be about connection, exploration, and celebrating culture. But too often, the culture they’re celebrating is one-dimensional. The music, the visuals, the marketing, it’s all curated for one audience. Y’all know who I’m talking about. Meanwhile, Black and brown folks who love craft beer (and there are plenty of us) look at these flyers and think, “Damn… am I even invited?”

We’ve got black owned breweries putting in work, changing the damn narrative, but you’d barely know they exist if you only looked at the major event promo feeds. Every big festival should have their faces front and center, but instead we get more man-bun energy and “hophead” hashtags that feel stuck in 2012.

Beer Events Need to Stop Pretending They’re Diverse

If your event “celebrates diversity,” but your entire promo team, photo reel, and playlist scream “white suburbia,” you’re not inclusive. You’re performative.

You can’t slap a Black face on a poster during Black History Month and call it a day. You can’t throw a “diversity panel” at noon on Sunday when everyone’s hungover and think that’s equity. Nah. Representation means letting people see themselves in your brand, the marketing, the music, the food, the experience, everything.

You know what would actually make people of color feel welcome? Seeing more of us not just attending, but running shit. Curating events, hosting panels, DJing, leading tastings, and headlining the damn flyer.

Fresh Fest Changed the Game

Back in 2018, Fresh Fest in Pittsburgh flipped the entire craft beer world on its head. It wasn’t just a festival. It was a movement. Founded by Mike Potter, Day Bracey, and Ed Bailey, Fresh Fest became the first beer festival in the country dedicated to Black-owned breweries, creators, and collaborators. It created a space that centered Black joy, talent, and entrepreneurship in a way this industry had never seen before.

Fresh Fest proved that diversity in beer wasn’t some abstract idea. It was a living, breathing community. It brought together brewers, drinkers, and dreamers who had always been there but had never been seen. It showed what happens when representation leads instead of follows.

📸 Photo Credit: Pittsburgh Magazine – Barrel & Flow Fest
Community on tap. Barrel & Flow Fest continues the legacy of Fresh Fest by centering Black brewers, artists, and beer lovers in one powerful space. This is what inclusion in craft beer really looks like: joy, culture, and connection poured fresh.

In 2020, Fresh Fest evolved into Barrel & Flow Fest, taking everything that made it powerful and turning the volume up even louder. It became a full celebration of Black excellence in beer, art, and music, blending craft with culture in a way no other festival even comes close to. Barrel & Flow isn’t just about beer. It’s about belonging. And it’s proof that when you center Black voices, the entire industry gets better.

Even years later, Barrel & Flow’s impact is still being felt in how other festivals and conferences are being reimagined. It set the bar for what intentional inclusion in craft beer should look like, and honestly, most of these big-name events still haven’t caught up.

Jen Price Is Doing the Work While Y’all Are Still Talking About It

📸 Photo Credit: AJC – Atlanta Craft Beer Conference
(L. to R.) *Crafted For Action* Craft Beer Conference team members Jen Price, Kevin Irvin, and Shanelle Pickraum raising glasses to real change in the craft beer industry. They’re not just talking about diversity, they’re building it one pour at a time.

Let’s talk about Jen Price for a second. She’s the founder of Crafted For Action, the beer conference that isn’t afraid to call the industry out while holding space for the folks actually changing it. Jen doesn’t just talk diversity, she builds it into every
tap, table, and talk.

Her platform brings together brewers, creators, and beer lovers from every background to have real conversations about representation, accessibility, and culture. No fake ally energy, no diversity-for-the-photo vibes, just action. Crafted For Action proves that inclusion can be the main event, not the side note.

Every craft beer event organizer should be studying her playbook. She’s out here creating panels that reflect real life, elevating people who’ve been ignored, and proving that community doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when you give a damn.

So while major festivals keep recycling the same tired formula, Jen’s out here showing what happens when you center everyone at the table, and the result is pure fire.

Marketing Teams: Get Your Sh*t Together

Here’s a free reality check:

Your “target demographic” isn’t the only group that drinks beer.
Culture sells, and y’all are ignoring a goldmine of it.
The future of craft beer looks a hell of a lot more like a block party than a brewery taproom in Vermont.

If your event playlist doesn’t have any hip-hop, Afrobeats, or R&B, you’re doing it wrong. If your vendors are all the same, your marketing is bland, and your “beer influencers” all look like they share beard oil, it’s time to clean house.

Start hiring diverse marketing teams. Partner with organizations like the National Black Brewers Association. Take notes from Crafted For Action and follow Jen Price’s lead on what intentional inclusion really looks like. Collaborate with Black beer creators who actually live this life. And stop acting like inclusion is a trend. It’s survival.

The Craft Beer World Loves to Borrow, But Rarely Gives Credit

Beer events love to borrow from Black culture, the slang, the music, the vibe, but never want to invite us to the table. The irony? The first brewers in America were enslaved Africans. Our ancestors brewed in bondage, and now, centuries later, we’re still fighting to be seen in an industry we literally helped build.

So yeah, it’s personal. Because while breweries post “cheers to diversity” on social, Black brewers, drinkers, and creators are still getting side-eyed at tasting rooms. We’re still the ones being “discovered” instead of being centered.

Pour It Forward or Get Left Behind

If the craft beer industry really wants to grow, the next evolution won’t come from another hazy IPA or “limited release.” It’ll come from real representation. From telling stories that haven’t been told. From faces and voices that haven’t been amplified. From events that actually look like the neighborhoods they’re hosted in.

Because here’s the thing: diversity isn’t just moral, it’s profitable. Black and brown communities buy, create, influence, and redefine culture every damn day. If your event marketing doesn’t reflect that, you’re not just tone-deaf, you’re leaving money on the table.

So What Now?

To the breweries, event planners, and marketing teams:
Stop asking where the Black people are. We’re here. We’ve been here. You just keep looking past us.

Start showing up, collaborating, and investing, not just inviting.
Put Black brewers on your panels, on your posters, and in your campaigns.
Feature our beers, our voices, our joy.
And for the love of hops, pay us for our damn time.

Until then, I’ll keep calling it out, glass in hand, middle finger up, because if the craft beer world wants to talk about “community,” it better start looking like one.