August 2nd 2023.
Hella Coastal, Oakland's first Black-owned brewery, opened in 2020, owned by founders Chaz Hubbard and Mario Benjamin. The two brewers were home-brewing together and decided to take their love for the craft to the next level by starting their own brewery.
"We were enjoying the process of home-brewing and thought, 'Why don't we try to start a brewery together?'" Hubbard explained.
The duo decided to honor their hometown of Oakland with their latest product, 'Oakland Haze', which pays tribute to the city's baseball team. To celebrate Black History and Women's Appreciation Month, they released '3900 'Til Infinity', paying respect to the Black female brewers who have been part of the brewing process for centuries.
"It was 3900 B.C. in Mesopotamia where the first beer recipe is supposed to be conceived by a Black woman," said Hubbard. "We want to make sure that people know the real history of it. It's not just about Black History Month and beer, but it's also like, yo, like, we do this, we have been doing this, we're going to continue doing it."
Right now, the duo is renting space in a taproom in downtown Oakland, but their dream is to open a brick-and-mortar venue in the future. Benjamin explained that they want the space to be a place where people in the community and allies can come together, learn about beer, and appreciate art that represents the community.
Their beer recently got good reviews at Sonoma County's craft beer festival, where the consumers and brewers were mainly white. The success of Hella Coastal may encourage more Black owners to join the game and break more barriers.
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