Creature Comforts Brewery Mentors Our Culture Brewing in Residency Program to Accelerate the Black-Owned Brewery’s Development & Growth

Athens-based brewery collaborates across all departments to share best practices with the young metro Atlanta company

Creature Comforts Brewing Company sought to exceed expectations in supporting the founders of Our Culture Brewing following its initial meeting in 2020. After multiple discussions over beer, the team at Creature Comforts, one of the fastest-growing, respected, and recognized breweries in the U.S., created a brewing residency program for the Our Culture team which resulted in each position within Our Culture being partnered with its counterpart at Creature Comforts.

“Learning from the Creature Comforts team has accelerated our growth and development as brewers and helped us avoid numerous pitfalls along the way,” said Our Culture Brewing co-Founder and CEO Isaiah Smith. “We have been blessed to have created multiple collaborations with different brewers across the country, but this relationship has truly intertwined the two breweries. We believe this partnership will serve as a playbook for black-owned breweries to foster development in the future.”

Our Culture was founded by a set of twins, Isaac and Isaiah Smith, along with Shakeel Radford and soon thereafter Josie Footmon-Smith joined the ownership team. After brewing their first batch of beer, they were instantly hooked on the science behind one of their favorite beverages. Our Culture’s unique palate stems from the individuality of its founding members, who bring a special flavor to the team and fortify its mission. 

“Creature Comforts has enjoyed tremendous success since our founding nine years ago, but we didn’t do it alone,” said Chris Herron co-Founder and CEO of Creature Comforts. “We were fortunate to receive support from and created collaborations with numerous breweries, but we wanted this relationship with the Our Culture team to go even deeper. Their team was always going to be successful; it’s been an honor to support their growth and development by working alongside their team.”

On November 1, Our Culture Brewing will launch “Seeds Take Up the Soil” beer, which utilizes sweet potatoes sourced from the Athens Farmer’s Market held weekly at the Creature Comforts patio. For the beer’s launch, Our Culture is partnering with BrewGether to disseminate up to $1,000 in funding to two local black-owned farms, one each in Athens and Atlanta.

“Less than one percent of both farmers and craft brewers in America are Black-owned, which guided how we made our inaugural independent beer,” said Isaiah Smith. “We want our brand to inspire the current and next generation of minorities who want to own and work in this space. I’m hoping that we can leave a trail of breadcrumbs for others to follow and work with those already in the space to increase the amount of representation in the industry.”

Creature Comforts is the largest independent craft brewery in the State of Georgia, known for its popular and award-winning brands including Tropicalia and Classic City Lager, which won a Gold Medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2022. Built on the foundation of fostering human connection, Creature Comforts lives its purpose through the creation of industry-leading beers and experiences. The company has made a commitment to giving back through its flagship corporate philanthropy program, Get Comfortable, for which it was recently recognized as the Impact Business of the Year for the work the company is doing in third-grade literacy in its hometown.

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