Ballast Point, Kilowatt Brewing & Friends Team up to Brew Black is Beautiful Chicory Stout

Ballast Point, Kilowatt Brewing, Mujeres Beer House, San Diego Beer News and several of their friends in the San Diego craft beer community have joined forces to brew their version of the Black Is Beautiful collaboration brewing project organized by Weathered Souls Brewing

The Black is Beautiful project is a nationwide collaborative effort to raise awareness for the injustices people of color face daily, social justice, equity, and inclusion. Each participating brewery is asked to brew an imperial stout recipe developed by Weathered Souls, a black owned brewery in Texas, and put their own spin on it all under the same Black Is Beautiful label. To date, more than 1000 breweries have committed to participating.

Kilowatt’s Co-Founder and COO Rachel Fischer said, “Our version of the recipe is a chicory coffee milk stout inspired by a beer we brewed with our pal Brandon Hernández a few years ago to help raise funds for his organization Beer to the Rescue. When brainstorming with the group on what we wanted to brew, we decided to use the recipe as a launching point and everyone involved in the collaboration made their own modifications and contributions to the final recipe.”

Brewed with chocolate malt, roasted barley, dark caramel malts, oats and lactose sugar and conditioned on chicory and Cafe Du Monde coffee sourced directly from the famous New Orleans coffee house, this medium bodied stout has notes of bitter chocolate, caramel, and dark roasted coffee topping out at 7.2% abv.

Black is Beautiful participants are also asked to identify and partner with a local organization that is committed to the long-term work of equity and inclusion, donating a portion of the proceeds raised from sales of the beer to the organization.

“The purpose and message of Black is Beautiful is important to us both personally and as a company. When discussing ways we specifically could help bring more awareness in our local community, we decided the best path forward was to partner with a local grassroots organization embedded in the San Diego Black community with a firsthand, personal understanding of the issues local people of color face. When a friend introduced us to Hear Us Here their message instantly resonated with us.” says Steve Kozyk, Co-Founder and CEO of Kilowatt.

Hear Us Here uses video and other media as a platform to amply Black voices from a diverse range of individuals within the community including political figures, artists, activists, professionals, and faith leaders in the form of raw, unfiltered messages for everyone already listening and for those who need to begin.

Please show your support for members of our local black community and Black is Beautiful by joining us at Ballast Point and Kilowatt’s tasting rooms on Thursday August 27th and purchasing a pint of our Black is Beautiful Chicory Coffee Milk Stout.

Ballast Point and Kilowatt will be donating 100% of the proceeds from the sales of Black is Beautiful on its release night and additional proceeds beyond from each of its locations to Hear Us Here.

-Link- to brew day photo stitched together from individual photos to maintain social distancing.
-Link- to brew day video.

About Ballast Point
What started in 1996 as a small group of homebrewers who simply wanted to make great beer evolved into the team of adventurers known today as Ballast Point. From bringing a hoppy twist to a porter or adding four types of malt to its amber ale, to creating the breakthrough gold-medal winning Sculpin IPA, the San Diego-based company is known for adding its touch and asking if there’s a better way. Now an internationally recognized leader in the craft brewing industry with 6 brewery locations in California and Chicago, the company makes over 50 styles of beer and is distributed in select markets across the US and internationally. For more information, visit www.ballastpoint.com and follow our journey on Instagram and Facebook. 

About Kilowatt Brewing
Kilowatt Brewing is a small batch brewery located in the San Diego neighborhoods of Kearny Mesa, Ocean Beach, and Oceanside.  Small batch brewing allows Kilowatt to continuously innovate and experiment with ingredients to produce unique styled, hand-crafted beverages including our 2019 GABF Bronze Medal winner OB Bubble Dubbel and 2018 GABF Bronze Medal winner Chocolate Macadamia Stout.  Kilowatt Brewing’s taprooms feature creative lighting, interactive art, giant games, rotating artwork by local artists, along with a hidden tiki bar speakeasy and mind-bending infinity mirror rooms.  Kilowatt Brewing is located at 7576 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard in the Kearny Mesa neighborhood, at 1875 Cable Street in Ocean Beach, and 406 Mission Avenue in Oceanside. Learn more about us at https://kilowatt.beer and on Instagram and Facebook.

About Mujeres Brew House
Mujeres Brew Club was founded in 2018 with the mission of exposing women of all walks of life to the rich flavors, history and culture of craft beer. Open to one and all, this casual club accomplishes this through events featuring guest speakers from within and around the brewing industry. Soon, it will do so using beers produced in conjunction with club members and Border X Brewing at the Mujeres Brew House in San Diego’s Barrio Logan community.

About Hear Us Here
Hear Us Here is a channel for messages that need to be heard. Black voices. We’re a diverse collection of people who are taking action. Using the skills we’ve developed to build brands, we are amplifying Black voices through our Hear Us Here video series, where community members and leaders speak about topics that are important to them. Through these videos and what organically grows from them, we are bringing Black voices and community leaders’ words to more people, of all backgrounds. These community members include political figures, artists, activists, professionals, faith leaders, and more. We want to see our country and our world change. We want a better now and a better future. Topics of discussion include: Police Funding, Public Safety & Police Reform, Diversity & Inclusion Topics, Black Trans Issues, Corporate Responsibility, Navigating Life as a Black Person in the United States, and many more.  We are sharing our stories in an unfiltered and organic way. Let’s all listen. Hear us here: https://hearushere.org/
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About San Diego Beer News
The San Diego Beer News website is a one-stop resource for news about the county's 150-plus breweries, events, info on what's tapping countywide, a brewery map, up-to-date COVID-related information, guest articles from industry insiders, plus episodes of 91X's Beer for Breakfast ABV interview series, ALT 949 FM's Rock and Roll Happy Hour broadcasts, and The Indie Beer Show podcast. San Diego Beer News sends out a weekly "This Week in #SDBeer" email newsletter to help subscribers keep up on what's happening and what's tapping around San Diego County. The site was founded by native San Diegan Brandon Hernández, an award-winning journalist who has covered the local brewing industry for 13 years and written a pair of guides to the county's breweries. His work has been featured in dozens of national and local magazines. For more on San Diego Beer News, visit the website - http://sandiegobeer.news - and follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.