Chicago-based Moor’s Brewing Company is one of a fraction of Black-owned breweries in the United States.
According to the National Black Brewers Association, less than 1% of craft breweries in the U.S. are owned by African Americans.
Damon Patton, co-founder and CEO of Moor’s Brewing, said as the company expands to hundreds of locations around the country and into large retailers like Whole Foods and Total Wine, customers can expect to see their iconic logo in more and more places.
Patton co-authored the book “The Baron Son,” talking about success in business. A big challenge at the start of the company was funding and getting capital.
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“It’s very expensive to run a brewery, most people start off buying a brewery and they end up spending $1 million or $2 million after that. That wasn’t possible for us,” Patton told Scripps News. “We had to find a brewer, find someone to make beer for us, come with our own recipes, come with our own labels.”
The company plans on doing some public relations work in their third year, but calls its media and marketing, so far, “earned.”
It’s about making people more aware of the company’s history and iconography, Patton said. The labels and the artwork on the cans of brew are striking, with a hip-hop flair. “It just resonated with people,” he said.
The company says the iconography comes from a famous 16th century Dutch painting called “The African King Caspar” by Hendrik Heerschop. But, they switched it up a bit, altering the image just slightly to add a modern touch, with the striking jewelry images added.
