Massachusetts craft brewers team up to diversify their industry

Harpoon parent and state trade group launch a website, training series

Originally featured on BostonGlobe.com

Dan Kenary used to look around at craft beer events and see the same thing: “a bunch of white dudes with beards and flannel,” as he puts it.

Kenary, chief executive of Harpoon beer parent Mass. Bay Brewing, is hoping to change that, once in-person events resume. His company has teamed up with the industry’s statewide trade group, the Massachusetts Brewers Guild, to launch an ambitious effort to diversify the ranks.

This month, they unveiled a website, dubbed Hop Forward Equality, to serve as a central clearinghouse for the industry in terms of diversity and inclusion initiatives, book suggestions, job postings, and best practices. They’re also launching a series of training sessions, virtual at first, to help executives diversify their teams.

About 6,000 people work for the craft beer industry in the state, primarily at one of the 210 breweries here. Women are playing an increasing role. But people of color remain poorly represented.

Kenary’s company and the brewers guild are also supporting a video travelogue series, hosted by Live Like A Local Tours founder Collin Knight, to highlight brewers across the state and their contributions to diversity.

For the first installment of this series, Knight headed out to Springfield, to visit with Ray Berry, founder of White Lion Brewing and one of a handful of Black brewery owners in the state. He opened his brewery last year after several years of contract brewing. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed things, but now Berry is eager to welcome visitors. He raises a glass to the Hop Forward Equality effort.

“I’m very proud and encouraged by Mass. Bay Brewing and the local Mass. guild for understanding that there is truly a deficit in our trade and looking to be creative in conversation and in action steps to bring awareness and move the needle,” said Berry, who is a member of the brewers guild’s diversity committee. “They are taking a very proactive step in the right direction.”

Mass. Bay hosted a diversity job fair in October 2019, also using the “Hop Forward” name, at the Harpoon brewery in Boston after Kenary found it tough to attract applicants from diverse communities. That fair was supposed to be a springboard to a series of job-focused events across the state in 2020, but the pandemic interfered. Brewers guild executive director Katie Stinchon and Mass. Bay HR chief Rich Ackerman didn’t want to let their momentum or the partnerships they formed fade away, so they channeled their energy into new directions: the website, the training sessions, the “Back Brew Dialogues” hosted by Knight.

The brewers can make a business case for these efforts, including broadening the market for their beers, and bringing more diversity of thought to their workforces. Stinchon estimated that craft beer trade groups in at least 10 other states have diversity and inclusion initiatives — but none have their own online resource center, at least not yet.

“This has to be a broader-based effort, and it’s got to be made more permanent,” Kenary said. “Not enough attention has been paid to diverse communities. ... I’m not 100 percent sure of the reason. Maybe we’re too insular of an industry at times, more focused on what each other were doing, instead of how we could reach out to underserved and underrepresented communities.”

Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jonchesto.

Move Over Lobster Roll, Get A Real Taste of Boston

Live Like A Local guided tours gets people out of the Back Bay 
and into JP, Roxbury & Dorchester 

If you’ve ever visited Boston only to ask a local their advice on where to go, what to see, and what to do, Roxbury native Collin Knight has the answer for you. 

The former New York City tour guide and actor brings his perspective and expertise to tourists through the lens of what it’s like to “Live Like A Local,” during his unique guided tour experiences. Knight created Live Like A Local tours two years ago, with the goal to get people off the beaten path downtown, and instead have them experience the art and culture of Roxbury, Jamaica Plain and Dorchester. 

Tours include, Walk With A Local, A Bite And Drink With A Local, Snack Like A Local and Grub Like A Local and range in price from $35 to $125, and 1.5 to 4.5 hours. The tours focus on the neighborhood’s history while also supporting the local businesses that make up the vibrant community he calls home. Knight wants to bring tourism to these neighborhoods and help the business owners right in his backyard. 

“I can take you to get the best cocktail, Jamaican beef patty, empanada and IPA around. Forget the lobster roll, come taste authentic food from different cultures -- West Indian Roti, Ethiopian and Latin American cuisine,” says Knight. “These tours are for out of towners, new to towners, suburbanites and city dwellers who want to get a flavor for what Boston is really like -- there’s a lot that might surprise you.”

While current social distancing protocols have temporarily sidelined his business, Knight is encouraged that bookings will pick up again soon. The businesses and cultural institutions featured on his tours including breweries, museums, restaurants and distilleries, will need the support more than ever.  

The self-proclaimed craft beer geek also hopes to bring more people of color into local breweries, an industry known to be predominately white. Knight hopes to serve as a bridge to break down barriers, open the breweries up to their communities, and expose people of color to the craft beer scene.  

“I don’t think that black people know that they are welcome. I want to help change that,” says Knight. Knight recently joined the Mass Brewers Guild’s diversity and inclusion committee and is a member of the trade association. The Mass Brewers Guild is the state’s trade association that exists to protect and promote the interests of craft brewers across the Commonwealth. 

“I love craft beer, food and history – and being able to bring all these things together is my passion. People may not know about the really rich brewing history that these neighborhoods have,” says Knight.  “I love telling these stories and showing people another side of these communities.”

Tours are limited to groups of five to adhere to health and safety guidelines, and are completed on foot. This helps tour goers work up an appetite while also following social distance recommendations. Masks will also be required while not eating or drinking. Chartered tours will resume once the state allows groups of 10 or more to congregate. 

“Supporting local has never meant so much. We all need to do our part to ensure that our favorite small and family-owned businesses come out strong on the other side of this health crisis,” says Knight. “If I can play a role in making that happen, all the better.” 

To book a tour, or to learn more about Live Like A Local Tours, visit livelikealocaltoursboston.com or call, (617) 286-6577.