The past few months have been a true test to the stability and longevity of our business. While we are grateful that we were considered “essential,” and were able to stay open for to-go sales, times have not been easy, and I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t nervous about reopening next week.

Since we are already a small space, keeping everyone six feet apart will take us down to only about 25 to 30 seats if you include the patio. We will continue weekly to-go events like Test Batch Tuesday and Three-Pack Thursday for a while, so if you aren’t comfortable coming in or can’t find a seat, we encourage you to continue to place to-go orders either online or at the bar. We hope this isn’t a long-term solution, but we are committed to trying our best to keep our customers safe.

Speaking of being uncomfortable, we are well aware that while we’re over here worrying about wearing face masks and keeping the bar sanitized, there is real pain and suffering happening in our city and other communities that need our immediate attention and action.

The craft beer industry in general is known for being collaborative and progressive in some ways, but we have not been so great at reaching out and including people of color and other marginalized groups. There are many excuses for this, like “Not everyone likes craft beer,” or “We can’t be everything to everyone.”

When you hear inspiring stories from brewery owners of their grassroots start-ups where they have pulled themselves up by their literal brewing bootstraps in order to live their dreams, I have to think; Are we really trying our best? We’re known for raising awareness and sometimes even funds for local non-profits, participating in Pride and Women’s March events, supporting local art and music, and being generally involved in city planning and improvement projects, but we’re overlooking opportunities and large pieces of our communities. It’s okay to recognize this and to be uncomfortable.

Like most small businesses, we don’t have a large marketing budget, so we rely on word-of-mouth and social media in order to advertise. This works great, except when the majority of our customers look the same. We take pride in our diverse age and ideological demographic, but know that on any given day you can look in at our taproom and see a lot of white people.

Obviously we know that not everyone drinks craft beer and cannot be expected to support every small business in the city. However, we do know that brewery taprooms have become gathering places for friends, after work meetings, and a chance to meet someone new. A lot of breweries open in up-and-coming neighborhoods or warehouse districts, which can be great for revitalization efforts, but the groups who already live in these areas are often overlooked, and a bright and shiny new boutique or start-up business might not meet their needs. When we think of gentrification or urbanization, breweries definitely come to mind. The conversation of whether this is good or bad for the neighborhood has to be led by the brewery owners, regular customers, and anyone else who is invested in the economic growth of the area.

I don’t want to speak for other small businesses , but I can guess that most of us do not have diversity & inclusion committees and resources that larger companies might have, but we have to start somewhere. There are some great organizations to help us like the WSU Office of Diversity & Inclusion, and the new Discomfort and Grace online community. I’ve been reaching out to these groups and other non-profits to find out how we can make the most impact right now. This could be a fundraiser, sharing resources, speaking up or speaking out, or simply having the tough conversations that need to happen.

Trying our best at keeping our community safe needs to include everyone, and being a small space or specialized industry are no longer excuses. I have already taken up enough space with this, so I will keep you posted on future plans, but for for now, here is a list of Wichita businesses owned by POC that you can support right now from Create Campaign.

https://www.createcampaignks.com/directory

Here’s a list of black-owned breweries in the US for when you’re traveling again:

https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/black-owned-breweries-us

If you want more data or have questions about US breweries in general, we suggest the Brewer’s Association

https://www.brewersassociation.org/directories/breweries/

-Stacy