Leaders of Chicago-based Moor’s Brewing Company explained how their participation in a residency program for Black-owned breweries helped grow their fledgling business during the first Brew Talks meetup of 2022 last week in Minneapolis during the week of the Craft Brewers Conference.
Moor’s co-founders – CEO Damon Patton and CFO Jamhal Johnson – joined Haymarket director of operations Michael Gemma and Goose Island brewer Samuel Ross to discuss the six-week residency Haymarket hosted in February and March.
“Haymarket has a great reputation in Chicago as well, so we thought it was opportunistic,” Johnson said. “We had the chance to get our product in front of people that may not have heard of us yet, so it has a chance to grow.”
The residency grew out of a collaboration between Haymarket, Ross and Jay Westbrook. Together with the brewery, Ross and Westbrook created Harold’s ‘83 Honey Ale, a beer named for Harold Washington, the first African-American mayor of Chicago, and brewed with local honey.
Moor’s, Funkytown Brewery, Turner Haus Brewery and Black Horizon Brewing Co. were all invited to host events and tastings at Haymarket’s taproom throughout the length of the residency.
“The goal of the residency for these events was to make this space your own because three of the four entities don’t have their own brick-and-mortars,” Gemma said. “As they were saying, we are in a very hot neighborhood in Chicago for bars and restaurants, and that type of exposure was something that we could offer up for all of these brands.”
Watch the conversation below and look for more Brew Talks recaps this week.