EP-300 Briana Brake + Atinuke Akintola Diver of This Belongs to Us

The way we find and tell stories of beer is changing, and in recent years, what was once relegated to magazines, websites, and podcasts is becoming more common in film. As craft beer’s trajectory has gone more mainstream, the awareness of the industry and its collection of people and stories has made a longer form, visual format another powerful path to explore the many ways a pint connects to different aspects of our lives and culture.

In this episode, we’re exploring what that means, and two people from in front of and behind the camera. Tinu Diver has a background in writing, law, and documentary film, and her new project is “This Belongs To Us,” a documentary that follows the journey of Black women brewers in the U.S. South to explore how a craft and tradition that began in Africa became synonymous with white, male, blue-collar identity in the United States. You’ll also hear from Brianna Brake, who came to brewing with an education in computer science and law, and is now brewer and founder of North Carolina’s Spaceway Brewery and one of the featured women in Tinu’s film.

This conversation covers similar themes explored in This Belongs To Us, which was recently featured at the Sundance Film Festival. Tinu and Bri share their experiences and perspective of being Black, entrepreneurial women, the ways they’ve come to view the U.S. beer industry, and the many kinds of stories that are weaved between beverage alcohol, history, culture, and more. You’ll hear about all kinds of historical, systemic, and current barriers faced by Black-owned breweries and Black people, like those challenge Bri faced when she tried to secure funding for her brewery.

As production of This Belongs To Us enters its final act, there’s much Tinu and Bri are still wrestling with, and you’ll get a taste of what you can expect from the documentary in this conversation.