Chicago’s “newest, freshest, funkiest Black-owned brewery” has won the 2021 edition of Brewbound’s Pitch Slam Competition, presented by O-I.
Funkytown Brewery, the second Black-owned brewery in Chicago, won the 13th edition of the Pitch Slam competition, beating out five other semifinalists before a panel of industry experts.
In a four-minute pitch, childhood friends and co-founders Richard Bloomfield, Zachary Day and Gregory Williams detailed their beers that “meet the needs of the first time craft beer drinker.”
“We’re using homebrew as an opportunity to gather feedback from Black people, women and other minorities to see what smells and tastes based on the palate,” Bloomfield said. “The feedback we were able to gather from these underserved groups is what drives our approach for brewing and branding.”
The trio will receive a $10,000 industry awareness package from Brewbound, and complimentary passes to Brewbound Live Winter 2022.
Bloomfield, Day and Williams started homebrewing in 2017, and were inspired to start their own brewery two years later after attending Fresh Fest (now Barrel and Flow), a beer festival in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania showcasing Black-owned breweries. Funkytown launched in October 2021 through the Pilot Project — a Chicago-based brewery incubator — and sold out of its initial canned product run (about 100 cases) within two days.
The brewery launched with a party at the Pilot taproom attended by more than 200 people, 85% of whom were “from the Black and Brown community,” Bloomfield said.
“This was our first opportunity to validate our proof of concept and show that Black and Brown people, women and minorities will congregate around beer, if the message resonates and they see themselves in the product,” he continued.
Funkytown has four beer offerings: Hip-Hops and R&Brew American pale ale, Woo-Wap-Da-Bam American amber ale, Cuffin’ Season Irish red ale, and New Year, Who Dis oatmeal milk stout. All beers are between 5.5% and 5.8% ABV, and feature local references in their label art.
“These different styles enable us to have a competitive price point that doesn’t turn someone away but provides an entry point for clients and beer consumers,” Day said. “On one end, we’re offering an entirely different world for the people within our culture, and another offering an entirely different culture in the beer world.”
Judges for the final round of the Pitch Slam included: Ryan Lake, director at Arlington Capital Advisors; Veronica Vega, Deschutes Brewery director of product development; Mallika Monteiro, Constellation Brands EVP and chief growth, strategy and digital officer; and Laura Markstein, Markstein Sales Company president.
“My favorite thing is that you’re customer focused,” Monteiro told the co-founders in the Q&A period after Funkytown’s pitch. “From the get-go, you were getting feedback from your customers and bringing them into your plan.”
“Guys, there’s a reason why you’re standing up here,” Markstein added. “First and foremost, the quality of the beer is really good, we really enjoyed it. The packaging is fantastic. Love your personality: I can feel it [and] see it in the product.”
Funkytown and five other finalists advanced from the semi-final round of the competition on day of Brewbound Live 2021. The other finalists included:
- Kharisma Tea Company (San Marcos, California)
- Brewjeria Company (Pico Rivera, California)
- G’s Hard Ginger Beer (St. Helena, California)
- Kové Hard Yérba Mate (San Diego, California)
- Dokkaebier (San Francisco, California)
Past winners of Brewbound’s Pitch Slam competition include: Lunar Hard Seltzer, Crowns and Hops, Wilie’s Superbrew, Novo Brazil Brewing, Armada Brewing, Border X Brewing, Hopewell Brewing, Wynwood Brewing Company, Braxton Brewing Company, CODA Brewing, Appalachian Mountain Brewery, and 5 Stones Brewing.