A pair of brothers have added another historic location to Philadelphia: Their venture Two Locals Brewing Co., a sprawling 6,000-square-foot brew pub in the city’s expanding University City section of West Philadelphia, is Pennsylvania’s first known Black-owned craft brewery.
“It just meant a lot to us to be here,” Mengistu Koiler said. “This is where we grew up.”
Two Locals, which Mengistu and his brother, Richard Koiler, opened in January, was the culmination of nearly a decade of hard work.
Mengistu, 43, and Richard, 33, began as backyard home-brewers in 2016, still working their day jobs. Mengistu spent years on Wall Street in finance, while Richard worked in accounting. Their love of ales, lagers and stouts transcended hobby-level enthusiasm to the idea of becoming their own bosses.
“Full days, like 8 to 1 in the afternoon, you know, we’d be brewing beer,” Mengistu said. “Just gave away a lot of free beer, which helped, you know.”
Now years into the journey, Richard said he’s “always emotional,” and he fights back tears as he gives a tour of the brewery.
According to the National Black Brewers Association, fewer than 1% of craft breweries in the U.S. are Black-owned. It was one thing, the brothers said, to grow up attending predominantly white schools, where they learned how to navigate spaces where they might be the only people of color in a room. But navigating that “otherness” as new Black business owners engaging with distributors and contractors in an industry that lacks a swath of Black peers also provided a new challenge at first.
Nonetheless, by 2018, the Koilers had formed a limited liability company for their business but still needed cash to get up and running, so they turned to crowdfunding. Then the pandemic came barreling down.
“We kind of looked at each other like, all right, well, this isn’t going to work,” Mengistu said. “You know, it’s a pandemic, and we’re here, we are asking people to donate.”
A few months later in 2020, the Koilers joined with other breweries across the country to raise money for social justice organizations during the protests and civil unrest that unfolded after the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Walter Wallace Jr. in Philadelphia.
“Brewing beer,” Mengistu said, is “about community, but you know, you also find movements that are near and dear to your heart.”
Now with their doors open, keeping things as Philly-centric as possible is important to the Koilers. Hence some of the beer names, like Good Jawn, a pale ale.
These two locals are just getting started. They said they are aiming to add even more Philadelphia to their beer, food and even entertainment at the brewery.
“It’s an amazing city with amazing people who are very passionate,” Mengistu said.
He added that he hopes the stress of running a business together doesn’t hurt the sibling relationship.
“We hope, you know, he got to stay brothers after this. I mean, that’s my idol. It’s cool. … He supports me; I support him.”
Apropos for the City of Brotherly Love.
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