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Dope & Dank creators, Teo Hunter and Beny Ashburn of the notable #BlackPeopleLoveBeer and #BrownPeopleLoveBeer launched an Indiegogo campaign to bring a brewery, Crown & Hops to Inglewood. The campaign raised $25,307 since its launch Wednesday and the owners hope to raise $75,000 by April 5 so their proposed goal of a 2020 opening in downtown Inglewood is met.
Hunter and Ashburn’s goal is to highlight a lack of diversity in craft beer culture, and the Crown & Hops brand will introduce diverse communities of color to artisanal craft beer. In turn, they will create a pipeline that will open doors into an industry that believes black and brown people don’t purchase or drink craft beer.
Their Indiegogo campaign signals years of hard work to make craft beer accessible to people of color. Ashburn, one-half of the pair who Time magazine called the “Changing the Face of Beer” in 2018, said “When going to a brewery five years ago, we were the only people of color 90 percent of the time.”
This experience inspired Hunter and Ashburn to create Dope & Dank, gaining a following by finding unconventional spaces to host tastings, like barbershops and beauty salons. Their grind didn’t stop there; alongside a name change, they partnered with BrewDog, a Scottish craft brewing company and won the company’s $200,000 development fund to create Crown & Hops Pilsner, IPA and stout. By mid-2019, their new beers will launch in California, U.S. cities, Scotland and UK tasting rooms.
The duos Indiegogo campaign is the first round of funding, and they are looking to partner with investors who share their dream to bring craft beer to diverse communities. For Ashburn, their dream is simple, “We both came from a marketing and creative background. We love the craft brewery industry. We wanted to create the same kind of energy and find others in the community that are fans and stewards of craft beer.”
- Facebook: Crowns & Hops
- IG: @crownsandhops
- Twitter: @crownsandhops