Craft beer is a culture. It’s bigger than a “market” or a “sector”, it’s a culture. And when a movement becomes a culture larger questions arise. We’ve looked into sexism in craft beer and groups like Pink Boots Society that helps introduce women into the craft beer industry and to further appreciate craft beer itself. Diversity shows that a culture is reaching everyone and isn’t boxing anyone out.

Vine Pair just posed the question of whether craft beer is too white. According to the website Stuff White People Like, craft beer ranks as 23rd on the comprehensive, albeit outdated, list. The list also includes “Banksy” and “Picking your own fruit.” Kinda an interesting site if you haven’t checked it out already.

Bellingham is not very diverse. Like at all. According to the 2010 census of the approximately 80,000 people in Bellingham just less than 10% of them where something other than Caucasian. The diversity in Bellingham means, naturally, the diversity in Bellingham’s craft beer is a bit…not-diverse. But maybe Bellingham is a mirror of the rest of US’s craft beer drinking population?

According to the Brewers Assocation 2014 study, diversity has improved in recent years. There is evidence of more craft beer consumption with African Americans, lower income and Hispanic households. According to some, it isn’t an issue

Celeste Beatty, the African-American owner of Harlem Brewing Co., started distributing her beer to Wal-Mart this year, and a startup based in Atlanta called High Gravity Hip Hop hosts a hip hop beer festival with the tagline, “Where craft beer meets real MCs.”

“The beer doesn’t care what color you are,” Annie Johnson told me.

Johnson is a brewer at PicoBrew. In 2013, she was both the first female and the first African-American to win Homebrewer of the Year. She says she’s more concerned with the color of the beer than the color of the brewer’s skin.

So what do you think? Is craft beer “too white”? Are there hurdles set up that keep diversity from occurring?