Rochester brewery releasing "Black is Beautiful" beer, proceeds benefit NAACP

(ABC 6 News) – A Rochester brewery is once again participating in a global initiative and proceeds will benefit the local NAACP.

Forager Brewery is releasing its Black is Beautiful "barrel-aged pastry stout" on Friday, February 18.

“As soon as we heard about this initiative we knew that we would be a part of it. We also knew we wanted to barrel age a portion of the beer to continue the conversation,” states Annie Henderson, owner of Forager Brewery.

“Marcus from Weathered Souls has done an incredible job spearheading this initiative and it is extremely important that we as a brewing community come together to not only show our support, but also help create change. We were very humbled to take part and to show our ongoing support to the Black Lives Matter movement.”

“The Rochester Branch of the NAACP is extremely grateful to Forager Brewery for their strong support, donation, and “Black is Beautiful” initiative which continues to bring awareness of the injustices that many Black and people of color face daily," said Wale Elegbede, President, Rochester Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

"Words matter and racism and systemic racism have placed negative connotations on the very word “black” and blackness in general. Examples include terms like “blacklist” or “whitelist” instead of “block list” and “allow list” and “black market” and “black sheep of the family” to mention a few. Black is Beautiful is more fitting!”

Forager’s Black is Beautiful beer will be available in 750ml bottles for $50 starting at 11 a.m.

To date, there are over 1,221 breweries from 50 states and 22 countries that have participated in the initiative which began in 2020.