Barrels lined up against a wall spelling out “Crafted Culture” in the main room of the bar. Credit: Paradise Thomas | Lantern Reporter
When someone asked Anthony “Sizzle” Perry if Black people even drank beer, he took it upon himself to answer the question through action.
“I was like, ‘Don’t worry man, your question just lit — you lit a fire under the wrong one.’ You know, my name is Sizzle, you know what I’m saying. Now, I’m an inferno,” Perry said.
Perry, better known to his community as Sizzle, opened Crafted Culture Brewery, the first Black-owned brewery in central Ohio. Located at 505 Morrison Road in Gahanna, Ohio, Perry said Crafted Culture is focused on creating interesting craft beers and cocktails as well as initiating change within the community.
With craft beers called “Knock if you Bock” and “Black is Beautiful,” Perry said Crafted Culture is bringing beer to the community and putting their own spin on it.
“We’re gonna take creative license, and we’re gonna cook up some soul in beers and just do some wild stuff, stuff that we get to be excited about,” Perry said. “Most of the world already had fun with the evolution of craft beer. My people didn’t get that. So, I get to hit rewind.”
At Crafted Culture, Perry aims to change the beer industry by making it more inclusive and by using it to invest in the community.
“This is a $27 billion industry, $3 billion of that is Black dollars. So where is the rest of that going? Like, it’s not going back into the community at all, and someone’s got to do it,” Perry said.
Perry formerly worked in the finance industry running a seven-location tax office in Annapolis, Maryland, before he moved back to his hometown of Columbus and began working in a restaurant. Perry said working at this restaurant exposed him to the beer industry and piqued his interest in becoming a beer representative salesman.
Perry said he applied to 17 beer representative positions and was rejected from all of them on the grounds of not being qualified, despite him having degrees in accounting and marketing.
“I can convince you to buy this stuff, and I can keep track of the money. So how am I not qualified to sell?” Perry said. “It’s not that I’m not qualified, I just don’t look like the dude you want to do it.”
This experience didn’t stop him from trying to break into the beer industry, Perry said. Instead of going in as a beer representative, he got a job as a beer delivery driver. Perry said this job gave him the opportunity to show that he could sell beer and he could do it well.
One day, Perry said he walked into a Clintonville grocery store and noticed empty shelves. Working his magic, Perry said he was able to sell about $1,000 in beer to the small store. This was the moment that he said pushed him into sales.
“That was a whole lot of beer, and at that point they were like, ‘Well, he’s not a delivery driver. Send this guy out and let him sell some beer,’” Perry said.
Once he was promoted to sales representative, Perry said he took to the East Side of Columbus to sell craft beer, against the advice of people who didn’t believe people from that side of town would be interested in craft beer.
“There was some, some tension. They were like, ‘Oh we don’t have a territory for him,’ and like, I’m a football dude. If you want to gain yards, you run where they aim,” Perry said.
Perry said he started in April, and by the summer, he was the number one salesperson in the company.
After conquering the East Side of Columbus and making it all the way to the sales director position, Perry had to find a new career avenue after the company he worked for was shut down. He said he saw how much money was in the industry, and he wanted to use it to make a difference.
“I was like, ‘I would like to do my own model in this. I’d like us to open up a model just rooted in equity and inclusion,’ because like I said, if you run where they aim, you’re going to gain yards,” Perry said.
Perry said he wanted to start marketing toward other groups typically left out by the beer industry so that they too could “consume in comfort.”
“I was like, ‘Now we have to start talking to women, we have to start talking to the Latinx experience and to the LGBTQIA+ community,’” Perry said. “If your brewery stands for something, the people you stand for won’t let you fall.”
Zac Baaske, the brewer for Crafted Culture and a 2014 alumnus of Ohio State, said Crafted Culture and everything it stands for is a mission that speaks to him.
“I love the idea of just trying to make it (beer) more equitable, to reach more people and to share this experience –– with people who, you know, maybe weren’t marketed to before, maybe they didn’t think that these spaces were for them and stuff –– and intentionally creating a space where people feel welcome,” Baaske said.
Within Crafted Culture’s core values –– “Engage, Educate and Expand” –– Perry said the expansion doesn’t just focus on more locations, but also on change within the lives of people in the community.
“The most important thing is bridging that gap and closing the circle,” Perry said. “I say, ‘Impact over incentive.’ That’s what I want. I want us to make an impact, I want us to go to sleep at night knowing we made a difference.”
Crafted Culture will be hosting a “Beer for Change” Food Drive in collaboration with the Couch Philanthropist and Food Soldier on March 8. Crafted Culture is open from 3-10 p.m. on weekdays, noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.
