Change Your Behavior. Change Your Attitude. Change Your Plan
I often name my beers after song titles or lyrical references related to my love of punk, hardcore, and heavy metal I developed as a teen and young adult. On occasion I will also sneak in a hip-hop reference. Usually I re-imagine how the words/lyrics might apply to what’s happening in beer. For example, I have a beer called SECRET ARMY I associate with the gratitude I have for all of my unspoken supporters. It’s actually a song from English Oi band Cock Sparrer. My beer NEW LEXICON is a song from Philly based HC band Paint It Black and I think we can all agree that as terms such as “craft” and “farmhouse” become increasingly convoluted …we all need a new way to talk about beer.
Two of my beers, The Sound of the Beast and Know The Truth, were recently released and the musical references were tied to some of my experiences around lambic and saison. The actual lyrics, however, address subjects that are even more relevant now than when the songs were released in 1993 and 2004. More about that in a bit.
If you’ve been paying attention to my Instagram and Facebook page… you’ll know that I have not been shy about my feelings related to police brutality or my support of Black Lives Matter. Underground music helped me develop an affection for counter-culture movements, DIY ethics, anti-authoritarianism, grassroots and guerrilla activism, progressive politics, and anti-racism. As a person who has never had to face racial profiling, harassment, or abuse I want to do my part to support BIPOC individuals who have experienced this their entire life.
There is a lot of performative allyship and virtue signaling going on right now without a lot of followup, structural change, financial support, or serious introspection. I don’t want to stop at simply posting a generic “we’re listening” message on my social media. AltBrau is not yet a commercial entity but I have a modest platform and I feel like it’s my responsibility to use it the best I can.
Over the last few months I’ve made an effort to amplify black voices and highlight black owned businesses. I am taking time to consider the ways in which I am privileged and ways I have been prejudiced/racist with my own thoughts and actions. I recently donated to The Loveland Foundation Therapy Fund and Silicon Valley DSA Bail Fund (please check those out and donate if you can). I had the honor of marching alongside thousands of others on Juneteenth here in Oakland and was able to document that experience over at Good Beer Hunting. I also donated to the Go Fund Me campaigns created by the families of Elijah McClain and Breonna Taylor thanks to Alex at Dont Drink Beer and his efforts to raise awareness.
We’re now in mid July and protest are getting less coverage. There are less and less social media posts supporting these causes. People are going back to “normal” and thats the problem. Normal was never good enough.
To anybody reading this and turned off by my concerns or believing you feel that this is “political” and not relevant to beer… I hope you will understand that to me this is not political. I am open to debating how we spend our tax dollars or which candidate to vote for… but the systemic abuse of black people in this country for 400 years is a humanitarian issue… not a political one. If you are offended… that’s ok. I never set out for AltBrau to be for everyone… I wouldn’t be making these beers if that was ever the plan.
To those of you that are still with me… Thank you. Beer doesn’t matter in the big picture, but hopefully we can use it as a format to have conversations about justice.
Now some info on the lyrics that inspired some of our beers them…
“I'd rather say ‘see ya’
Cause I would never be ya
Be a officer? You wicked overseer!
Ya hotshot, want to get props and be a savior
First show a little respect, change your behavior
Change your attitude, change your plan
There could never really be justice on stolen land
Are you really for peace and equality?
Or when my car is hooked up, you know you want to follow me
Your laws are minimal
Cause you won't even think about lookin' at the real criminal
This has got to cease
Cause we be getting hyped to the sound of da police!
Woop-woop! That's the sound of da police! That's the sound of the beast!”
KRS-One - Sound of Da Beast (full lyrics here)
“I come from the land of Ben Franklin
Twain and Poe and Walt Whitman
Otis Redding, Ellington,
The country that I love
But it's a land of the slaves and the ku klux klan
Haymarket riot and the great depression
Joe McCarthy, Vietnam
The sickest joke I know
Listen up man, I'll tell you who I am
Just another stupid American
You don't wanna listen
You don't wanna understand
So finish up your drink and go home
I'm proud and ashamed
Every fourth of July
You’ve got to know the truth
Before you say that you’ve got pride.”
Descendents - ‘Merican (full lyrics here)