The craft brewery that led the Black is Beautiful charitable beer initiative is seeking a new equity partner to buy out one of its co-founders and take a majority stake in the business.
Weathered Souls Brewing Company co-founder Mike Holt is seeking an exit from the San Antonio craft brewery that he helped found with Marcus Baskerville in 2016.
“Building this alongside Marcus, and alongside all of the incredible people who helped get Weathered Souls to where it is today, that’s been the adventure of my life,” Holt said in the announcement. “Now it’s time for someone else to continue that good work, whether it’s raising millions to support charitable organizations in Black communities across the country, winning awards for making some of the best beer on the market, or just creating an environment where everyone can feel comfortable enjoying craft beer regardless of who they are.
“The community deserves to see Weathered Souls continue in the hands of someone who will truly be the good steward and community leader that we’ve strived to be ourselves these last few years,” he continued.
Holt is asking interested parties to reach out directly to him at investor@weatheredsouls.beer.
Weathered Souls rose to national prominence in 2020 with the Black is Beautiful collaboration cause beer project to raise awareness to the injustices faced by people of color in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Participating breweries were asked to donate the proceeds from the beer to organizations in their communities that support police brutality reform or legal defense funds. The project raised $2.2 million in one year.
Last November, Weathered Souls opened a brewpub in Charlotte. Watch Baskerville discuss multi-state taproom expansion opportunities during Brewbound’s Brew Talks meetup in Nashville from earlier this year.
Weathered Souls launched Black is Beautiful Vol. 2, an open-source Hazy IPA collab, in mid-July to raise money for the National Black Brewers Association (NB2A), a new trade association formed to promote the Black brewing community and increase the number of African Americans in the brewing industry. Baskerville is a founding member and board member of the NB2A.
For Holt, his next chapter will include focusing more on his family.
“Honestly, we’ve been able to do so much over these last few years since we opened Weathered Souls,” Holt said in the release, “And we’ve created something truly special, that’s resonated with craft beer fans across the world. But now is the time for me to hand those reins to someone new. This industry is amazing, but it also takes a lot of time and energy, and I’ve reached the point in my life where I’d rather leave Weathered Souls in the hands of someone with the vision and the energy to see it continue to grow and evolve.”