Fiction Beer teams up with The Word

Jay McKinney

Look no further than the logo showing a shelf of books sandwiched between two beers and it’s clear that Fiction Beer Company sees a link between brewing and literature. Located in the Park Hill neighborhood of Denver, the brewery has demonstrated its love of literature by collaborating with The Word: A Storytelling Sanctuary.

The Word is a non-profit organization that promotes voices from underserved communities as they work toward building a publishing community that fights for inclusivity. The organization’s founder and executive director, Viniyanka Prasad, met Fiction Beer Company co-owner Christa Kilpatrick at a bookstore event two years ago and they struck up a friendship. From their first introduction, they talked about a potential collaboration and the brewery began hosting a handful of events for The Word.

In this latest collaboration, appropriately titled “Poetic Ales,” Fiction has brewed three separate beers that each feature an original poem by three local BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) poets on the label. The poems represent the theme, The In Between, and provide reflection on this middling period of the COVID-19 pandemic that has coincided with a conscious awakening on equity issues.

“On a call with Viniyanka, we talked about how best to collaborate in COVID times and still have the community impact we wanted to achieve,” Kilpatrick said. “We determined that a packaged collaborative beer label format would give us an opportunity to feature literary artists from marginalized backgrounds, utilize unconventional formats and highlight the wonderful work that The Word is doing in our community.”

The three Poetic Ales are “Small Gestures of Vibes” Southern Hemisphere Hazy IPA featuring the poetry of Franklin Cruz; the “Phazed Brew” Molé Milk Stout featuring Kerrie Joy’s poetry; and “Cure your Ales” Elderberry Fruited Ale featuring Deborah Jang’s poetry.

Each poet has been involved with The Word and they are all well respected and active in the community, Prasad said. In addition to printing their words on the cans, the brewery also promoted the artists using their social media platforms.

Released on Feb. 12, the beers are available to the public in a limited-edition gift box that includes one can of each beer along with a custom Rastal Lawrence Tumbler. In addition to the gift box, the beers are also available in 4-packs of 16-ounce cans and on draft at the brewery. But hurry, they might not last long.

The brewery also partnered with Beer Drop’s delivery service and committed a set number of cases to them for their membership program. A portion of the proceeds from each purchase will go to support The Word and their ongoing effort to bring cultural equity as they promote literary artists from diverse backgrounds.

"When old doors are closed sometimes you just have to show up through new ones,” Prasad said, adding that traditional publishing can be a very closed space for writers from the margins. “In this moment of much flux, this collaboration between Fiction and the Word is about unexpected publishing spaces and community connection that should be our normal,” she said.

- Jay McKinney is a Colorado native who recently graduated from Metro State University of Denver with a bachelor’s degree in communications. He loves spending time outdoors, playing golf and hiking.