A Chicago brewery became reigning champion of Samuel Adams’ 14th annual Brewer Experienceship craft brewers competition, securing a financial boost that will support its continued expansion across the country.
Sam Adams founder, Jim Koch, who is credited with starting the craft beer revolution four decades ago, has given loans to entrepreneurs that banks often deny as part of his philanthropic program, Brewing the American Dream.
Moor’s Brewing Company, a craft brewery founded in Chicago by Damon Patton, Jamhal Johnson and Anthony Bell, has joined the growing number of breweries that will receive financial support from Boston Beer Co.’s Samuel Adams brand and exclusive mentorship from Samuel Adams professionals, including Koch.
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Founded in 2021, the brewery has already expanded into over 500 retailers nationwide and opened Chicago’s first black-owned taproom, Diversity House, in the city’s Logan Square neighborhood earlier this year. The brewery is aiming to double its retail footprint over the next five years.
“At Moor’s Brewing Company, we believe every state across the country can appreciate the value of that connection. That’s why we’re committed to growing our presence in communities nationwide,” Jamhal Johnson, co-founder of Moor’s Brewing Co, told FOX Business.
As it seeks to expand, the brewery will also collaborate with Samuel Adams on a special release beer in the coming months.
Koch’s program has worked with the Accion Opportunity Fund to help these small craft brewers gain access to capital since the program’s inception in 2008. To date, more than $114 million has been loaned to over 4,500 small business owners in the food and beverage industry from this program.
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Brewing the American Dream employees, along with local business partners and community organizations, have also provided mentoring to more than 16,000 business owners across the country, helping to create or maintain over 12,000 local jobs, according to Sam Adams.
“I realized that there was a huge amount of value just in 10 or 15 minutes of advice to a small business person on a specific topic,” Koch told FOX Business during an interview in New York City, adding that this program first began as speed coaching sessions where we’d bring in people from Boston Beer Company who had expertise in all these different areas.
“The small business people would come in and they’d sign up for 10 different sessions on things that were pain points or problems for them. I’ve always been amazed at just the power of simple advice,” Koch said.
Today, Koch’s company has a market capitalization of around $2.2 billion and owns household brands such as Samuel Adams, Twisted Tea, Angry Orchard, Truly Hard Seltzer and Dogfish Head Brewery. But Koch was all too familiar with the challenges of securing funding while turning a dream into a business. In 1984, when he was first starting the Boston Beer Company out of his kitchen, Koch said getting capital was “impossible.”
“No bank would lend me money. Everybody thought it was a joke,” Koch previously told FOX Business. The idea of starting a brewery was “inconceivable.”
Today, Koch is able to help droves of businesses that know what it’s like being in his shoes. It’s proven to be succsessful as the program has a 98% repayment rate, according to Koch.
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