Representation is everything, especially in spaces where few people look like you. Jen Price was the first Black woman I met who enjoyed craft beer as much as I do. Ever since then, she has been hosting various beer events while working on her dream to open the Atlanta Beer Boutique, a bottle shop with community educational opportunities.
In 2020, Price came close. I remember her standing in the Boutique’s location in Atlanta’s Glenwood neighborhood, beaming with pride that the shop would open in May. But that all came to a halt when COVID-19 caused nationwide shutdowns. Despite this blow, Price turned her lemons into lemonade in the form of Crafted for Action, an organization focused on building a more inclusive beer community. It proved to be a timely decision, as the industry and country reckoned with the aftermath and implications of the Black Lives Matter protests that followed the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020.
Crafted for Action’s signature event, CraftBeerCon, goes beyond the standard DEI panel found at most beer conferences and instead platforms more nuanced conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion. In 2022, 84% of panelists were from the BIPOC community—a rare feat for an industry conference. When it launched in 2021, it featured 13 virtual panels and nine in-person events. In 2022, the conference grew to 26 virtual panels and nine in-person events.
Leaning on her background as a project manager and city planner, Price developed a slate of events that celebrated beer, diversity, and the city of Atlanta, including a beer dinner at a local Black-owned restaurant, a Cicerone study hall, a beer 101 education, and a camp-themed party and bottle share. Panels explored a range of topics relevant to underrepresented people, from the power of leveraging community to women entrepreneurs who have launched their own beer businesses and the realities of compassion fatigue.
In August, Price was joined by Nick and Amanda Brooks of Outdoor Gear and Beer, a couple focused on making the outdoors inviting for BIPOC campers, to kick off a series of camping workshops. Each workshop focused on a different aspect of camping—how to pitch a tent and what to wear—to ease novice campers into Unplugged Under the Stars, an overnight retreat near the Appalachian Mountains.
Through Crafted for Action and her other initiatives, Price is providing much-need resources to the beer community, and expanding the horizons of Black Atlantans. We have a saying here in the Dirty South: “Atlanta influences everything.” I’m convinced that Jen Price’s influence will help shape a new future for the beer industry here and beyond.
Words,Stephanie Grant