At an event dubbed “The Beer Bash” on June 7, 2024, beer lovers and fans of Boston Beer Company — makers of Samuel Adams beer, Truly hard seltzer, Twisted Tea, Angry Orchard Cider and Dogfish Head beer — gathered to sample the wares of the six finalists for Samuel Adams Brewing & Business Experienceship. The fan voting was the final step of a long process to determine the winner of the Experienceship, which is part of Samuel Adams’ larger Brewing The American Dream philanthropic program.
The winner, announced on June 13, 2024, was Crowns & Hops Brewing Co. of Inglewood, California. The Brewing & Business Experienceship is an annual competition, now in its 13th year, for craft breweries to contend for mentorship from a team of Samuel Adams professionals, including founder and brewer Jim Koch. The mentorship occurs in-person at Samuel Adams’ Boston Brewery.
Founded in 2016, Crowns & Hops is black-owned, female-owned and veteran-owned. In addition to making great beer, the brewery has earned a reputation for moving the conversation forward on race, culture and identity.
“Winning the Samuel Adams Brewing & Business Experienceship competition is an incredible milestone for us,” said Beny Ashburn, co-founder, via email. “Crowns & Hops is more than just a Black beer brand. Our award winning beers are proof that our success isn’t measured by our race, but by our dedication to craft beer and expanding access. This win further validates our hard work and dedication over the past eight years to build a beer brand driven by culture, community, innovation and purpose.”
“Despite our experience, there’s always room to learn and grow,” said Ashburn “As Jim Koch mentioned at the Brew Bash last week, ‘When you go out and start a business, there are all of these things that are really important to your success that you’ve never done before … just a little bit of advice was crucial.’ The Brewing The American Dream program goes beyond ‘just a little advice.’ Learning from Jim and the Samuel Adams team allows us to gain deeper insights into business strategies, marketing innovations and scaling our operations efficiently and sustainably.”
Jim Koch founded Boston Beer Company in 1984 and has been living the American dream ever since. He left a job as a consulting with The Boston Consulting Group to found the brewery which would make him the first of the new wave of craft beer brewery founders to make Forbes list of billionaires.
Throughout it all, Koch has remained humble, retelling stories of pounding the pavement in Boston with his briefcase full of samples of his beer, trying to convince accounts to buy his microbrewed beer at a time when nobody had heard of such a thing.
“The Brewing & Business Experienceship nourishes our entrepreneurial roots,” said Koch in an interview. Wearing his trademark blue shirt and khaki trousers, it was obvious that Koch was energized by being among entrepreneurs. “They are the American dream,” he said.
The Brewing & Business Experienceship is one of the many parts of the Samuel Adams Brewing The American Dream program. Brewing The American Dream has provided over $107 million of loans to American food and beverage companies, coached over 15,000 entrepreneurs and helped create over 11,500 jobs, according to Boston Beer Company.