September 21st 2023.
Urban Garden Brewing, the first Black woman-owned beer company in Washington, D.C., is looking to plant roots in the city and is fundraising $20,000 to support the effort.
Founder Eamoni Collier is close to signing a lease on Urban Garden Brewing's new home in the Fort Trotten area but she needs a significant amount of financial backing to help make her dream a reality.
Speaking to WTOP News, Collier said: “To support that process, we’re looking to raise $20,000 in order to help with our legal requirements and permitting to help speed the process along. So we’re just reaching out to our community like, ‘Hey, you’ve seen what we can do, you see the passion behind this, the people behind this.’ Now we’re just asking for the help to get us to that next point so we can make this dream come true.”
Urban Garden Brewing has made a name for itself in Chocolate City by collaborating with local breweries and hosting events to get its handcrafted beers into the hands of potential customers. The reception for Collier's one-of-a-kind brews, which are made with ingredients found in her uncle’s District Heights, Maryland, backyard, has been warm.
However, Collier has found it challenging to keep up with the demand. She said: “Very difficult, extremely difficult. And it’s also very expensive.” The costs related to home brewing large batches of beer can be relatively low, with the average price of a five gallon batch being around $40. But the costs associated with opening a business in the Fort Totten area she has her sights on are much higher.
Collier believes the beer industry needs what she’s bringing to the table. She is infusing her beers with creativity and unique flavor, with the goal of appealing to more female customers and broadening the consumer base of the popular beverage. She said: “I think a lot of people aren’t aware of how beer even started. Beer started with women. We were the first brewers. And I think beer has come a long, long way from its roots and it’s left a lot of people out. So I think it’s just important because there’s a whole world in craft beer and I think it’s important that people are welcomed into the community to find their own passions.”
By and large, those left out of the beer industry are both Black and woman. Collier claims that about 99% of the craft beer industry is white. She believes diversity and inclusion are important, and that Black people need to be given a piece of the pie. “Those numbers have to change. And we have to begin the process starting here, right? You know that this is the nation’s capital.”
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