Plenty of home beermakers have dreams of launching their own brewery. But how many of those dreamers also have a marketing and finance pro for a life partner? At Montclair Brewery in New Jersey, Denise Ford Sawadogo (MBA ’00) and her husband, brewmaster Leo Sawadogo, have joined their talents to found a microbrewery that produces flavorful lagers, ales, and stouts. And, at the same time, the couple is creating a more inclusive landscape in their industry.
Leo, a native of Burkina Faso, had spent years as a hobbyist brewer, experimenting with ingredients such as fruit from the baobab tree to create unique beers that spoke of Africa. Denise, raised in Brooklyn and Freeport, New York, in a family with Jamaican roots, had used her Baruch MBA to build a career in brand management, handling marketing and communications for large global companies.
In 2014 the couple had a dream to establish their very own brewery and decided to combine their expertise to create a solid business plan. They found—and completely renovated, with support from their community—a building in their hometown of Montclair. They also won a $50,000 grant from the 8 Trill Pils Initiative, founded by the Black-owned Crowns & Hops Brewing Co., which seeks to create racial equity in an industry in which fewer than 1 percent of craft breweries are owned by African Americans.
The brewery is celebrating its fifth anniversary, and Denise and Leo put community at the center of their business, hosting local jazz and film events in their taproom. Saluting Black achievement and history are also key to the brewery’s mission.
“Montclair itself has such a rich history,” Denise said. “Every February, for Black History Month, we honor someone from the community.” They also brew a special beer inspired by the honoree. For example: In 2020 they honored late baseball great Larry Doby, the second man to break the sport’s color barrier, and brewed “Doby Major Leagues Caramel Pale Ale.”
Inspiration for other unique brews comes from a variety of sources: poet Maya Angelou inspired the mango purée–infused “Maya Double IPA,” brewed for Women’s History Month; a vacation to France, with scents of menton lemons and lemon verbena, inspired the couple to produce the citrusy, Belgian-style saison called “Verb,” a collaboration with Maine-based Allagash Brewing Company.
Through her work as a board member of the Black Brewers Association, Denise also seeks to inspire other African Americans to join the industry. “We’re seeing how we can increase opportunities so that there are more brewery owners that look like me,” she said. “We have to build that pipeline.”
— NANETTE MAXIM