How One Craft Beer Advocate Transformed a Local Economy

Introduction: A Community Transformed by Craft Beer

Joshua Oakes has been a leading advocate of craft beer in his community for almost 20 years. Now that the community is experiencing a craft beer revolution, many attribute the success of other local businesses — like food trucks — to Oakes. In an interview, City Commissioner Tyrell Jones lauded the groundwork Oakes had laid over the course of the last two decades. "His work has been instrumental in improving the local economy," Jones said. "I don't even like beer, but I recognize what Oakes has done for our community and I appreciate it a lot."

Born in Richmond to a working-class family, Joshua Oakes has long recognized the value of community service and activism. "When I was young, my mom was always dragging me to bake sales and other community events. I used to hate it when I was young, but as I got older I couldn't live with myself unless I was out there constantly, doing what I could to help." Oakes claims that it all started in high school, where a particularly influential teacher inspired him to become active in his community. Yet it wasn't until Oakes discovered his love for craft beer that he was able to fuse his knowledge of community activism with the genuine passion that comes from within. To be a true activist, one must not only leverage the social networks and ties one has in the community, but also be dedicated to a cause.

Origins of a Passion: Travel and the Old World Brewing Tradition

At first, Oakes had no idea that beer would become a community issue. It started as just a hobby — one that took him on numerous journeys to other cities with thriving craft beer cultures. Oakes even traveled abroad for beer, visiting Old World brewing hubs in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Through his travels, he realized that beer has a community function in the Old World that had been lost over the years in the New World.

Whereas all beer was once consumed locally, mass production, Fordism, and industrialization led to the rise of beverage corporations producing what Oakes calls "swill," or on occasion simply "crap." For decades, these mass-produced beverages were all that Americans had access to. Oakes's exposure to European brewing traditions gave him a new framework for thinking about what beer could be — and what role it could play in community life.

Building an Online Community and Local Craft Beer Culture

Oakes cannot take credit for starting the craft beer revolution, but he was one of the first to ride the crest of the wave. By the time craft beer had become a recognized phenomenon in North America, Oakes was trying every new beer he could get his hands on. According to Melanie Gross, owner of the popular local brewpub Hello Beer, Oakes was a maverick who inspired people to think harder about what they were drinking.

Through a website he developed, Oakes helped build a powerful online community that circumvented the difficulties he encountered trying to meet other craft beer lovers in person. The online community, BeerLovers, eventually grew to the point where each major city had a local chapter. Thus was born the craft beer culture in the community. At first, it was difficult to conceptualize beer as a community activity. Beer was still viewed as a commodity — and one with considerable social and cultural baggage. As an alcoholic beverage, it carried a taboo quality that made it difficult to appeal to more conservative members of the community, even those who did enjoy the occasional drink. Drawing on his knowledge of how beer brings together people from disparate walks of life in the European communities he had visited, Oakes began to strategize with fellow beer enthusiasts he had met online about how to embed craft beer into the fabric of community life.