Local entrepreneur empowers minorities through brewing
NICKHASELOFF
Photography Editor
nhaselof@unca.edu
A resilient, black 2nd grader pro
tests with classmates and staff in
the lunchroom of Ring Factory El
ementary in Bel Air, Maryland. The
sit-in takes place during Black His
tory Month in the early ‘90s at a pre
dominantly white and middle-class
school as the protester lays out a
series of demands for better pay
for the lunch staff and janitors and
more reasonable accommodations
for the students during recess.
That young protester, now a life
long activist, continues the fight by
opening a brewery this month in
downtown Hendersonville, which
promises to help build the commu
nity by empowering minority peo
ples.
“From a very early age I was ac
tive in organizing activism,” said
L.A. McCrae, chief values offi
cer, founder and brew creative for
Black Star Line Brewing Co. “I’ve
been doing this for what feels like
forever.”
McCrae, who goes by they/them
pronouns, said they will work their
whole life to enact change in the
communities they are a part of.
Through the experiences in life,
they are developing social and
business models for a brewery that
changes people’s lives.
“At this point. I’m really focus
sing on what could be considered
creating pathways out of poverty
for my people,” 31-year-old Mc
Crae said. “Whoever the ‘my peo
ple’ are. You know, black folks,
queer folks, women, etc. And I’m
looking at the ways that we can use
our skills and our knowledge and
our heritage to really solidify liber
ation in a world that often does not
want to see us as liberated.”
McCrae said the best way they
can think to enact change involves
disrupting the traditional beer in
dustry and bringing to life a brew
ery which does more than just brew
beer, but also rattles the normal ap
proach to community activism.
“There are ways the brewing in
dustry is exclusive both by design
and just de facto,” McCrae said.
I
L.A. McCrae works at their dining room table, which doubles as a desk, as they plan for the opening of
Black Star Line Brewing in October.
“So when I think about going into
a brewery, I have to be prepared
for white conversations. Someone
there is going to be talking about
Donald Trump. There’s generally
white music, white beer. It’s most
ly bitter. So for me, thinking about
what it means to create a brewery of
the people, by the people. That, to
me, is living, acting and embodying
what I feel like are at times bullshit
principles.”
McCrae is not happy with how
the current brewing industry moves
forward, they said. They intend to
disrupt the industry by producing a
series of beers that cater to a wider
variety of people.
“It’s about being reflective of us;
having sweet beers,” McCrae said.
“It’s unapologetically asserting our
worth, asserting our value and help
ing us to feel really grounded in an
industry that’s often exploitative.”
People currently recognize the
brand and McCrae as the same en
tity, they said. But they hope people
can separate that image over time.
“For any entrepreneur that’s a
start-up, you are the brand at first,”
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McCrae said. “But, I really hope
that people take a look and peel lay
ers to the onion and get to know and
understand Black Star Line.”
They want people to understand
the meaning behind the brewery.
they said. They want the communi
ty to grasp the idea and run with it,
so that it becomes bigger than what
it started out as.
“Arriving at this moment with
Black Star Line Brewing, it’s defi
nitely for me, a pathway of minis
try, as crazy as that sounds,” Mc
Crae said. “But really connecting
people and having the ability to do
something awesome that people on
the ground are really excited about.
This is the people’s brewery and
I’m really just a reflection of that.”
McCrae relies heavily on the sup
port from their friends in their com
munity as they venture into opening
their own brewery. Ekua Adisa, a
healing artist, ritual performer and
liberationist from Atlanta, said she
feels confident McCrae will suc
ceed because of the many positive
facets of their personality.
“L.A. is extremely persistent in
pursuing their dreams and has a
magical ability to navigate setbacks
better than anyone I have ever
met,” Adisa said. “They might just
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