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'It's not just a beer can': Bay Area Black-owned breweries pay tribute to civil rights icons
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Milton Bowens was sound asleep when he was gruffly awoken at 4 a.m. by the buzz of an incoming call. When he answered the phone the voice of Kevin Johnson, former NBA star and past mayor of Sacramento, was on the other line with a request.
“He was like, ‘Who was the first Black brewer in America?’ and I said, ‘Well, I don't know exactly … but I know the beer was called the Peoples Beer,’” Bowens said. “Kevin was like, ‘Dude … you gotta do a painting on that,’ and I was like, ‘Uh … OK,’” Bowens chuckled as he recalled the conversation that took place in 2020.