I didn’t realize how much it would affect me, seeing so many queer and polyamorous people in one place where they don’t normally gather: a brewery.
The crowd came in costume and glitter, feather and faux-fur, pink and purple and baby-blues brightening the dark, industrial space. For one night, the congregation turned Hackney Church Brew Co. in London—in a strip of breweries often crawling with bros—into a dazzling queer dance party. Most important: It was a chance at visibility and normalization for some of society’s most maligned communities, ethically non-monogamous (ENM) people.
Hackney Church’s head brewer, Jacob Hobbs, invited me to help create a rare commodity, a non-performative Pride beer, by involving the community. I invited members of the Queer Polyamory Socials group I was part of to join in. We made a butterfly pea flower and peach Saison, purple in color, with portions of sales benefiting British charity We Exist, a mutual aid organization for trans*, nonbinary, and intersex folks. I believe it’s the first Queer-Poly Pride Beer ever sold.
We’re everywhere, us ENM folks, which includes those who are polyamorous (having more than one partner) and relationship anarchists (where every relationship, regardless of relation, is equally important). You don’t have to be in a romantic relationship, and it doesn’t have to involve sex; it’s about trust and communication, intimacy without ownership, and expansive affection that starts with loving yourself. But that’s not what society tells people, so we stay in the shadows—until we choose to make ourselves visible, pulling up a barstool and sharing a bright purple pint.
Words by Holly Regan Photo by Licklist Photography | Ulas & Merve Studio LTD