Beer, tamales, and making a difference

Changes at Working Draft Beer Company came from necessity but moved toward justice

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While things are getting back to normal, things have also changed. 

Take, for instance, Working Draft Beer Company, which, in March 2020 was a lively near east side gathering spot focused on tap beers consumed onsite or taken away in crowlers. It hosted a packed trivia night and a well received kitchen. “There’s a culinary flair provided by the leadership of kitchen manager Jon Churan that doesn’t just feel like the airport version of a cool restaurant,” wrote Isthmus reviewer Kyle Nabilcy in September 2018. 

When the pandemic hit, Working Draft closed entirely, then had to almost entirely reinvent its business model, co-owner Ryan Browne told Isthmus in April 2020. Up until then, it had only canned its beer once, in a run of 100, to celebrate its second anniversary. Now it's canning its most popular beers as well as some of its seasonal specials. To keep up with wholesale accounts, Working Draft expanded its beer production into the kitchen space. Chef Jon Churan moved over to the beer side of the business, too. 

Now that the taproom is open again, Working Draft is closer to where its heart lies, helping create community, says Browne. But between satisfying its wholesale accounts and its in-person clientele, who can now also lounge at a new 30-seat patio, Working Draft is on the verge of running out of beer, says Browne. The beer operation needs the large fermenter that’s now sitting in the kitchen space, so reopening food service was not an option.

So Working Draft turned to Tortillas Los Angeles, a local business run by husband and wife team Angel Flores and Leticia Torres out of the FEED Kitchens. They make organic tortillas from corn they grow themselves. The menu they bring to Working Draft is simple and goes well with beer: three kinds of tamales (chicken, pork or vegan) or fresh tortilla chips and salsa. 

Browne says that the Working Draft team relished this opportunity to spotlight Tortillas Los Angeles’ goods: “It’s beneficial and profitable for them.” Tortillas Los Angeles also sells tortillas at area farmers markets including the Northside Farmers' Market, and is slated to be a vendor at the Madison Public Market.

Working Draft is also using the couple’s corn in a Mexican lager that it is making for National Hispanic Heritage Month in September in collaboration with Luna’s Groceries, Rusty Dog Coffee, and Madison artist Natalie Ergas doing the can art.

Browne says that the Black Lives Matter protests of the last year, after the death of George Floyd, prompted Working Draft to be more active in social justice issues. “We have a tool, the reach of Working Draft, to help make change,” says Browne, who credits the work of Dr. Alex Gee and the group Justified Anger with helping put the business’s good intentions into action through the mantra “educate, donate, affiliate.”

 “We’ve taken that as marching orders,” says Browne. The brewery has produced a “Black is Beautiful” imperial stout with profits from its sale donated to Justified Anger and its parent organization, Nehemiah; another collaboration, “Justif-I-ed PA,” an IPA, featured the artwork of Lilada Gee on the label and also contributed proceeds to Justified Anger. That art is a drawing of a black woman wearing earrings in the shape of the scales of justice — an extraordinary thing in the world of beer label art. And “Lift Every Voice” was a special beer created to celebrate Juneteenth. 

Says Browne: “We’re really excited with these opportunities to deepen these relationships.”