Funding startups is one of Koch’s ways of fighting back. In its 15 years of operation, Brewing the American Dream has coached 14,000 entrepreneurs and created or maintained 9,000 jobs. Just over three quarters of the program’s participants and loan recipients are Black, Indigenous or people of color, and 63% are women. Last year, the average loan totaled $33,000. The program won’t disclose how much of the funding comes from Boston Beer Company and how much from Accion.
Still, its little guy reputation lingers, in part because Koch keeps experimenting with new brews and techniques. “They’re definitely still a craft brewer in our book,” said Steinman of Beer Marketer’s Insights. He argued that there’s no perfect way to define the term, but that “the way that they interact in the market is in the craft beer aisle.”
“We make our tap handles by hand,” said Bhavik Modi of the Chicago-based Azadi Brewing Company. “My wife does our can art.” Marc Geller of New Jersey’s Three 3s Brewing said he was “down on the floor cleaning up a leaky tank this morning.” Brewers emphasized that coaching from Koch in how to navigate the ups and downs of the industry would be invaluable at their early stages of operation.