Over the last six years, RiSean Tinsley and Denzel Jackson have grown their beer-brewing hobby into a successful business, winning numerous competitions, attending pop-up events and securing countless partnerships with some of the Bay Area’s most well-known breweries.
Up until this month, they’ve done it all out of their East Palo Alto garage, but now, the two childhood friends have expanded Brewing with Brothas, securing their first physical location in Belmont. Operating out of the former ECR Brewing Company on Industrial Road, Jackson and Tinsley’s spot opened earlier this month and showcases the pair’s creative concoctions and beer selection, ranging from a kolsch to strawberry cream ale and their award-winning BB3, or Black Belgian Tripel, their creative take on a traditionally golden ale.
“We put our own spin on it,” Tinsley said. “We wanted it to be a dark beer, and that was the first beer that put us on the map.”
On paper, Tinsley and Jackson don’t have the professional trajectory one might expect from the owners of a successful brewing company and brand — neither have a degree in hospitality nor much experience working in restaurants or bars. And they both maintain full-time jobs unrelated to brewing. Tinsley is a social worker in Santa Clara County and Jackson has an engineering background. But those professional “day job” skills have served them well in the brewing business, and their success is a testament to the power of persistence and passion for beer.
“We went to YouTube university. We watched videos on how to make it, and we would do it every weekend, just learning by trial and error,” Tinsley said. “We would go around to other breweries and bring our home brew bottles and asked people what they thought about it.”
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The brewery, currently open between Thursday and Saturday, represents a major milestone for more than one reason. The business is one of the only Black-owned breweries in the entire Bay Area, and while others in the region, such as Hella Coastal, have since shut down, Jackson and Tinsley honed their own brewing skills due to collaboration and mentorship from such establishments.
The decision to pursue brewing as a business endeavor was not just a result of their personal affinity for craft beer but also what it represented historically, drawing inspiration from brewers like Celeste Beatty, the first Black woman in the country to own a brewery.
“I listened to her talk about how back in the day, slaves would brew beer and that brewing beer is a part of our history, and that also inspired me,” he said. “I thought, if she could do it, so could we.”
Tinsley added that Brewing with Brothas is meant to be an extension of the same light-hearted curiosity and community-centered success that propelled the EPA-based venture from the start, where everyone is welcome to gather, try a new beer and stay awhile.
The business is at 111 Industrial Road, No. 8. Go to bwbbrewing.com for more information.
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