Some businesses are more political than others.  Generally gun stores swing a certain way politically, but that is because the gun store clientele does too.  When your business is quite often the target of politicians, some political activism is warranted.  That said, there are gun stores that I have walked in and out of because they went over the top.  They have more bumper stickers than guns.  The staff looks like they just got done raiding a meth lab.

I remember one time going into a gun store and all the guy had for handguns were Glocks.  I asked if he had anything else and then got an angry lecture about how the ONLY handguns worth owning were Glocks and everything else would get me killed in a firefight, and what was my malfunction for not liking Glocks.  Needless to say, I didn’t buy anything from him.

When I think about micro-breweries and restaurants, I think of business that are apolitical.  Generally, people don’t want a heaping dose of partisan politics when the go out for a good time.  The steep decline in NFL viewership proves that.

The owners of Black Star Line Brewery didn’t get that lesson.

This is how they describe their business.

Black Star Line Brewing Co. is the FIRST Black, family, & woman owned brewery in Beer City, USA.  We don’t just make great beers, we believe in collective economics and the liberation of all people.  And we’re just crazy enough to believe that can happen, one brewsky at a time.

From the get go they focus more on they are a black, woman owned business than the beer.  This doesn’t bode well.

Black Star Line Brewery was featured in Vice.

This Craft Beer Forces You to Confront White Supremacy

At Black Star Line Brewing, racial uplift and intersectionality are entwined with every beer they brew, right down to their queer-farmed hops.

Oh shit.  I pint of beer and side order of white guilt.  That’s going to be bitter an unpalatable.

From the people who own craft breweries to those who frequent them, the craft beer scene is interminably, undeniably white. Which is why the North Carolina-based Black Star Line Brewing Company—one of the first black, queer and female-owned and operated craft breweries in America—is such a breath of fresh air.

I can’t enjoy a brewpup now because they are too white.

Named after legendary black nationalist and Pan-Africanist writer Marcus Garvey’s historic shipping line, designed to enable the flow of both money and people back to and through Africa, Black Star Line Brewing is a craft brewery that’s unmistakably political in an industry that’s all too often not. And that’s nearly as refreshing as the queer-farmed, proprietary blend of hops they use for their brews.

Fantastic.  They are named in honor of a black nationalist, black separatist, and his shipping line which was the basis of his conviction for fraud.

Do I now have to be concerned about the sexual orientation of the farmers who grow my food?  That’s going to get mighty tedious if my bacon and eggs are not sourced from sufficiently deserve growers.

Also, is there something special about gay hops?  I thought those are what was used to make Zima.

“Each of our beers has a story,” explained McCrae, and are named in the spirit of the black community—names that become “an act of resistance, an act of reclamation. We educate about our history with the names.” With brews like Assata Ale, Stokely Stout, Afro Pop Porter, The Lorde, and more, the goal is to spark dialogue as one imbibes.

Oooo… an ale named after a cop killer.  I’m never going to order that.  A stout named after a leader of the Black Panthers.  I’m not going to order that, either.  They want you to so they can beat you over the head with it.

“We are in a unique position to have a conversation that most likely wouldn’t take place in most other breweries,” they said. “It’s like this, when people say: ‘What’s a Stokely?’ Well, let me tell y’all about Stokely Carmichael. Let’s talk about why he’s important to Black history. Let’s talk about why there’s an entire brewing industry out there designed for the palette of white folks.”

That sounds exactly like the sort of welcoming attitude you want in a brewpub.  Order a beer and get a lecture.

As someone with a dramatic student loan debt to income ratio, McCrae said they’ve yet to qualify for traditional loans. So they do what excluded folks have always done: be resourceful. That means that L.A. and their team frequently travel to local and regional beer and food festivals to hawk their wares and build community. And to date, Black Star Line’s capital is completely donation-based, from what McCrae calls their “#grassrootsreparations initiative.”

Oh for fuck’s sake.  It’s not a business loan, it’s “reparations.”  Now I’m definitely not going to give a penny.  I’m happy to support a small business.  I hope one day to start my own and I’d like support.  But calling it reparations, that’s a massive turn-off because it’s supported to guilt me out of my money.

It should come as no surprise as to what came next.

Owner of Queer, Black-Owned Brewery Says ‘White Supremacy’ Led to Its Closure

During its six-month tenure, Black Star Line Brewery faced death threats, numerous break-ins, and complicated financial woes.

Really?  I mean I get the closure and financial woes, but the excuse seems far fetched.

“Less than 72 hrs after celebrating King Day with a group of radical POC queers and community members, #BSLB was shut down and police were called to a community space that center [sic] being and liberation for all people. White loan officers called the police on a group of 8 POC Downtown Hendersonville. Why?”

In its own words, Black Star Line Brewing Company fought for social justice for “marginalized, disenfranchised people… through collective economics” (which was, in the brewery’s case, beer). 

“Collective economics” is the the death of everything it touches.  Back in 2016 a Marxist, vegan sandwich shop folded after sucking in customer service.  Before that, the tech startup that decided everyone was worth a minimum wage of $70,000, flopped.

Almost immediately after opening its doors in Hendersonville, a small community (with a population that is more than 80 percent white) in the western region of the state, the brewery started receiving threats. McCrae (who uses they/them pronouns) shared screenshots of profanity-laced emails with the public.    

Seems that when you business exists to guilt 8/10 locals, it’s not going to do so well.

I spoke with McCrae a few days after the brewery’s eviction. They recounted the numerous struggles they faced from day one, describing their shutdown as “intentional” and “systematic.” It started with an inability to secure traditional funding, forcing them to turn to a community development financial institution called Mountain BizWorks, from whom they procured a $50,000 loan, which McCrae says was insufficient from the start, as the brewery had requested a loan of at least $100,000 to get up and running.

According to its website, Mountain BizWorks’ mission is “to build a vibrant and inclusive entrepreneurial community in Western North Carolina by helping small businesses start, grow, and thrive… We have a particular focus on working with businesses unable to access financing from banks and other traditional sources, as well as low-income, minority, women, and immigrant entrepreneurs, and businesses that operate within the local food system.” McCrae describes a much different experience than the one Mountain BizWorks promotes.

So the progressive business incubator wasn’t sufficiently progressives for the queer, gender nonconforming, black, intersectional business founder.

 Between the hateful messages, numerous break-ins (“we stopped reporting the break-ins because the police didn’t care,” McCrae says), accusations of illegal operations (which were deemed false), an overdraft fee with the brewery’s supplier, and what McCrae describes as an inability to get in touch with Mountain BizWorks despite repeated attempts, McCrae reached a point wherein their landlord told Black Star Line that “our mission no longer matches their vision for the building.” MUNCHIES has reached out to Mountain BizWorks for comment, but has not yet received a response.

The cops were out to get them too.  It’s  damn conspiracy I tell you.

McCrae believes that Black Star Line wasn’t just another small business failure statistic. They point to a larger conspiracy, naming it “externalized cultural effects of white supremacy.” In their eyes, it was a setup from the very beginning. Hope for the future of Black Star Line Brewery still exists among its founders and fans, but morale is another story.

“They’ve criminalized us. Dehumanized us,” says McCrae. “Even the detective assigned to the investigation of another break-in after we were unlawfully evicted was quoted saying that he’s 90 percent sure that we did this to ourselves for sympathy on our way out. How can we trust him?

Holy shit, I was being facetious, “they” are being serious.

Even Google was in the hate.

Making weak beer and then calling customers racist is a surefire way to make it rich and successful.

Welcome to progressive economics.  They go with ideas that have failed every time they have been tried before, but when they try them again and fail, it’s because the “white supremacy” was out to get them.