lounge area inside one fermentary
Ramsey Louder fell in love with brewing the way many people do, by starting at home. Though one thing was different about his ascent from hobby to career: he never thought he could turn his passion into a vocation. Because there were so few Black people in the industry, he had no role models to turn to. Louder told me, “I never saw anyone who looked like me doing this.”
Still, he pushed on, eventually working his way into a brewing position at New Holland Brewing in Michigan, where he enjoyed a rewarding career at the large, progressive company. But in 2018, he received word from Joe Alton, local brewing consultant and former editor of The Growler, that Sally Schmidt, a marketing consultant, wanted to open a different kind of Minneapolis brewery and was seeking a woman or BIPOC brewer. Louder was immediately excited about the project, because it represented something he had long dreamed of: a brewery with more inclusivity, more diversity, a place where people of color, women, queer and trans people would not only feel welcome, but would work together in an environment that actively embraced everyone.
Louder and his family decided to make the move to Minnesota where he would not only brew, but become five percent owner. ONE Fermentary and Taproom opened last November near the North Loop in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood within walking distance of the Twins Stadium, high-end condos, and food hall projects. It was immediately celebrated in the media and food community as Minneapolis’ first Black-owned brewery. At the time, Minnesota was home to only one other brewery with Black ownership, Montgomery Brewing in Montgomery, about 50 miles outside of the cities.
Pre-Covid, there were about 200 breweries in the state, and like all food and beverage businesses here, there is a particular dearth of Black ownership and leadership. For the BIPOC community and its allies, ONE seemed like a victorious boon to Minnesota’s brewery culture, which has always looked and felt resoundingly homogenous. But from the beginning of the project, Louder says things felt “off,” causing him concern about how the physical manifestation of the project would match up to the values it was supposed to uphold.
Sally Schmidt says that she and her husband Bob were avid enthusiasts of breweries for years, and it had become a dream to open one of their own. During a phone interview, she told me how they noticed “the industry lacked a lot of diversity even in patrons,” and that if they were going to open a brewery, it would be “a place where all people could gather comfortably,” and that the idea of ensuring diversity and inclusion “just came natural to us.”
ramsey louder brewer
Ramsey Louder
But as Louder and his family made arrangements to relocate, a number of decisions for the brewery were already in motion, including its location. “I wasn’t excited about it. For me, this was about making great beer, but also a diverse space in places where BIPOC live so that it could be part of the fabric of the neighborhood,” Louder told me. Once he was physically in the space, he saw that the construction and design teams were all white, an additional red flag for him. Schmidt says that the space and the contractors were chosen before Louder agreed to come on board, and picked for their brewery experience because “it was a delicate job and that was the most important thing.”
As to the location, Schmidt says she was excited for its proximity to public transportation and the neighborhood’s walkability. She says that she and Ramsey compromised on design by bringing in Pollen Midwest, a creative agency that encourages connection across difference, to design and execute a mural. Louder says he continued to “swallow” his concerns in favor of pushing through, in order to see the brewery’s overall mission come to fruition. But the end result, aside from about a third of the staff being LGBTQ or BIPOC, was what Louder felt was “a brewery like you would normally see—a brewery as we know them, with a few BIPOC folks coming in and out.”
But his biggest trouble with ONE began with George Floyd’s murder, when he penned a public-facing statement to be posted on the company’s social media. He said that as the company’s Black owner, he trusted that his voice would be respected in its entirety. That wasn't the case.
Citing contractual constraints, Louder is unable to let Mpls.St.Paul Magazine publish his original statement in its entirety, but says that it was “sanitized,” with references to Black Lives Matter, the Minneapolis Police Department, and white supremacy removed.
The statement that was ultimately posted on the social media at ONE is as follows:
“We are heartbroken over the murder of George Floyd and the events of the past few days in Minneapolis. Systems of inequality that have persisted for generations in our country have time and again lead to tragedies such as this. Silence and inaction can be deadly as well. To help further the process of REAL change, we would like to challenge you to take some sort of positive action. Educate yourselves about the history of inequality and injustice that has plagued POC for hundreds of years. Financially support the organizations that are doing the work to effect systemic change, like Headwaters for Racial Justice. Critically assess your own thoughts, language and actions. Stay safe and be kind to one another. Love, the ONE Team.”
When asked why the changes were made, Schmidt told me that she removed the reference to Black Lives Matter because the organization does not have a local chapter, and she believes that charitable donations should stay in the local community. The reference to the police was removed, she says, because, “it was to me an overstatement. It was one cop, four cops. . . And everybody knew what happened.”
As far as the removal of the reference to white supremacy, Schmidt simply said that Louder was “happy with her edits.”
According to Louder, he was exhausted when he signed off on the edits, and in retrospect wishes he would not have. The larger point, he believes, is that a company that props itself up with Black ownership and an ethos of BIPOC inclusion shouldn't have to be educated by a Black person at this time, in this way. Further, he had to convince Schmidt that re-opening the brewery during the week time of Floyd’s murder**, at the height of the movement, was inappropriate. “We had a hard conversation about what it's like being a Black man in America. I shouldn’t have to explain that. I thought that this was already fundamentally clear to my business partners. This work that they need to do is not for Black people to figure out. If you wanted to have a brewery that’s based on diversity and inclusion, you should have already figured that out. There’s plenty of information. They haven’t done that work.”
Schmidt said she “called several Black-owned businesses on West Broadway, and all were open,” so she didn’t think it was inappropriate to open ONE as well. They ultimately compromised and reopened on June 12.
On June 26, Louder announced publicly that he had resigned from ONE, citing differing values from the other ownership. Specifically, “You shouldn’t tamp down a BIPOC person’s voice. Our voice is already misconstrued. That spoke volumes to me.”
ONE Fermentary continues to appear in articles and lists as having Black ownership, resulting in goodwill and financial support. When I asked Schmidt why ONE hasn’t made a public statement that it no longer has Black ownership, she responded by saying that Louder has already made his departure public, so she sees making a statement as a “moot point.”
After my conversation with her, there were rumors of an impending employee walk-out. On Monday, ONE Fermentary announced that they would be closed indefinitely while they weigh their future options.
Louder is currently in the process of working on a business plan to make the brewery he has always dreamed of. “When my son gets older he can be proud,” he said. “You have a dream, and you see it through.”
** UPDATE: After posting, we were contacted by Sally Schmidt and would like to correct a misunderstanding. We thought the brewery was aiming to open on June 1, when it was originally intended to open on June 5. Additionally, we mistook the actual opening date, which was originally reported at the 10th, but was in fact the 12th.
