Black History Month: Prince George’s County’s first Black-owned brewing company
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) –A Maryland brewery is making strides as the first Black-owned brewing company in Prince George’s County.
They make up the one percent of African-Americans in the industry.
“We want to intrude on a market that’s under representative of African Americans,” said Jasmine and Andrew Dill, co-owners of Liquid Intrusion Brewing Company.
The Maryland couple started back in 2020, after Andrew lost his job working for a popular beer company.
“So it was a hobby of mine, I always wanted to talk about beer, drink it, sell it, I just didn’t really know how to brew it. I had a lot of free time during the pandemic so why not?,” he said.
It seemed like a dream come true when they were gifted their very own homebrew set up by the wife of a Prince George’s County man after he passed.
“She practically said hey, you remind me so much of my husband, his dream was to be Prince George’s County’s first Black-owned brewery. Take all of his equipment for free. I know that you will take care of it. It was like a blessing in disguise,” he said.
Through trial and error they were able to get the perfect recipe. The eventually launched many flavors like the “South of D.C. Creme Ale”, “African Queen and her 7 seas IPA”
“It’s a long lost style it’s vegan friendly as well too… if you’re looking for something chill, mellow all day drinking type of beer. You’re the South of D.C. Cream Ale will be up your alley,” said Jasmine.
They’re also working on new flavors called Lemongrass and Plum Basic Farmhouse.
“If you want to get a little classy, you know with our Lemongrass, and then you know if you’re really feeling fancy, you want to fit in a nice glass, the Plum Basic Farmhouse. We’ve been able to convert a lot of our wine drinkers over,” said Jasmine.
Black History Month Literary Weekend, a celebration of Black History
The unique flavor definitely has customers wanting more and the cans unique design with a map of the DMV makes people feel at home.
“We literally put Maryland on the map. We put a little lotus, where we want to be located in Southern Prince George’s County, and then it shows the whole DMV,” said Jasmine.
So far they’ve become the first Black-owned brewing company to partner with BWI airport and sell their products. You can also find their beer at certain whole foods in D.C. and Total Wine locations in Maryland.
Jasmine and Andrew say it’s very important for them to work with Black-Owned businesses like Center Pocket Cafe & Billiards in Bowie.
“That’s something that we pride ourselves with, we get to choose which account that we feel is the best fit for us that will represent us in a positive light and make sure that they’re not doing anything to deter and or tear down our community,” said Andrew.
The couple are hoping to open up their very own location in the southern part of the county soon, which would make them the first black-owned brick and mortar brewery in Southern Maryland.
“We wanted to make sure that our community or county or towns are connected and we could be a beacon of light that people can come to to kind of voice their opinions,” said Andrew.
One of their goals is to put and end to stereotypes, while also bringing people together.
“Black people do not drink beer… we’re just trying to change that mode by one beer at a time to each and every one of our consumers. We’re just doing what we love to do. When you turn your passion into a hobby it doesn’t really feel like a job. So you know as long as we’re you know, making the liquid prevail,” they said.
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