The craft beer industry is exploding in sales, with 25% of the entire U.S. beer market being held by small producers in 2019. This is no small feat, considering the market share is $116 billion! As a result, the culture of beer and its role in our society is rapidly changing. To get a sense of what all this means at a micro-level, I checked in with Kim Lillig, Operations and Events Manager at Peabody Heights Brewery, located in Baltimore, MD. In our interview, Lillig discusses her unique role in ensuring the beer keeps flowing. In addition, she addresses how beer can play a big role in building community.
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Hi, Kim! It’s great to meet you. I see your major is in Agriculture and Applied Economics. Since beer relies heavily on agriculture and economics, has this been useful at Peabody Heights?
The specific application of AG and economics is not really relative to my everyday work, however, the excel skills I learned in school are used all the time.
On the topic of your work, can you share what your everyday role is like as Operations and Events Manager?
After graduation, I was in the non-profit sector doing finance and administrative processes. There was a lot of capacity building and behind the scenes work. Those are all things you’re responsible for in events management. You have to make sure everyone has a smooth experience upfront. Additionally, I’m focused on tracking where all the beers are in production. Do we have artwork? Have the allotments been determined? How many cans and kegs are we going to need? What are the products priced at? I track 35 tasks for a single beer at a given time. And we can be brewing over 9 beers at once!
What do you love about your work in Operations and Events?
I love how anything I bring to the table is either going to be considered or acted upon. With our small team size, everybody understands the integral role we have at the brewery. We also have a monthly ‘Brain Beerstorm’, where we plan what we want to brew. We know we brew our core beers, but we look at our second-tier brews for possible changes. There has been an increase in demand for ‘sours’ in the Maryland area, so this influences what we choose to brew.
What would you change about your job?
I’m a little “Type-A”. So, it bothered me when the head brewer wasn’t happy with the haze of a beer. I was like, “Sorry, we have to get it out today. We have to do it!” I can’t say that, though. This is our brand. Our brand is our beer! If it says it’s a hazy IPA, I can’t send it out if it’s clear as water! So it would be nice to have more control over the product, but that is nothing I can change.
Also, government regulations around beer change frequently. It’s difficult to figure out what license we need, when it’s due, and the fees.
A report from 2019 shows non-brewer jobs in the beer industry are 37% women, 7% Latinx, and 3.5% Black. Why is it so white and male?
What I’ve seen in the industry, at least locally, is that these craft breweries begin because there are a couple of guys who nerd out about beer and brew at home. It’s expensive and takes time. When you think about it, who has a bunch of time and money? White men do. That’s one of the barriers to entry. And the community of all these beer nerds is pretty white and when a couple of these guys open up their brewery, they say, “who else can we get in here?” They look to their brew club that is all white men. It’s easy to grab from the brew club or a group of friends. It’s unfortunately a reflection of our societal disparities.
This said, at Peabody Brewery, we’re a minority-owned business and 50% of our team is BIPOC.
Your brewery is certainly unique, then. How has diversity in your team benefited the brewery?
It has benefited the kinds of beers and even the names we come up with. We came up with a barleywine beer last month. It’s inspired by traditional Indian ice-cream. It completely sold out in two weeks at $80 dollars a case! We’re seeing interesting flavors that are selling really strong. I don’t think if we had people eating cheese curds and bratwursts we would have these interesting flavors.
Is there intentionality behind your diversity efforts?
Unfortunately, not with hiring. Eddie O’Keefe, the owner, has a more diverse network than many other brewers. When he needs someone, he refers to his network and they show up. Eddie is also very proud of his relationship with the trans community. We began fundraising events here around P.R.ID.E. and we kept inviting the trans community. We offered partnership opportunities to get more people from their group to return and it became a safe space. We’re definitely known as your neighborhood brewery.
Stepping away from your brewery, are there active efforts to improve the industry’s diversity?
I’m not aware of anything on a national level. The Brewers Association of Maryland has been talking about it. Locally, there were serious accusations of a Baltimore brewery around the sexual assault of a female employee. There has been a lot more focus on making sure owners are treating employees, especially female employees, appropriately.
On a less serious note, what’s up with all the beards and brewers?
[Laughs] Two of our workers have these massive, down to their chest beards. I think it’s the social network–When you’re around all these guys who have beards, you want to grow a beard too.
How many free pints are you allowed each day?
We get to take our low-fills and dented-cans home. One of the benefits I never expected is that brewers are such beer nerds–They share their homebrew beers. They’ll come in and share a stout they made with Oreo’s and chocolate-chip cookies. We also have other breweries who will come over and swap beers. We even have a local meadery who are super cool folks and we get a nice amount of mead from them.
Wait, this sounds like a lot of consumption?! Is alcoholism ever talked about or is that too taboo to discuss?
So far, I’ve only heard jokes about alcoholism. And there are people who definitely drink too much. It’s dangerous, right? We have forklifts, we have heavy machinery, equipment, and brewers who throw 50-pound bags of grain! The work is super busy, though. There isn’t a lot of time to chill with a beer. We drink some beer here, but I haven’t seen a big issue with overindulgence on the job.
What’s your favorite beer?
I used to not like dark beers. Because they’re free, I took some packs home and found some that I really like. The Black Is Beautiful stout was recently brewed here. We worked with a local Black-owned business called Jinji Chocolate. The owner, Jinji Fraser, gave us chocolate nibs to use. All of the profits we earn from the beer will be donated to the Baltimore Action Legal Team.
Wow, I’m really impressed by your team’s community focus!
Can I brag a little more? The Healthy Harbor Initiative made this wheel called ‘Mr Trash Wheel’. It collects all this trash and debris before it enters the harbor. And then this python appeared on the motor one day! He was rescued and taken to the aquarium. We made a beer to commemorate the moment and a portion of our sales supports the Healthy Harbor Initiative. We call the beer ‘Mr Trash Wheel Lost Python Ale’. We have donated $25,000 so far this year from sales.
Any final comments?
When I graduated, I was so eager to help the world. I thought the only way to do this was in the non-profit sector. This is not true. If you work with others who want to put in the work, you can make change happen. Yeah, it may be beer, but you can do something with it along the way. Be discerning about the work culture you want to be in, and less on the specific sector.
Peabody Heights Brewery is located at 401 E. 30th Street Baltimore, MD 21218. For more information, visit their website or email info@peabodyheightsbrewery.com.
