Lady Lager On a Mission — How Alisa Bowens-Mercado Is Using Beer to Bring Economic Empowerment to the Black Community

There are certain people in the world who have a natural ability to bring a smile to your face, even when you’re in the midst of an existential crisis. Alisa Bowens-Mercado is one of those people. 

Bowens-Mercado and I first spoke in 2021, and I felt an immediate rapport during our conversation, as if we’d known each other for years instead of minutes. At the time, I was internally debating whether I should continue running my newsletter, which highlights Black women in the beer industry: I had underestimated the effort required to write my biweekly musings while juggling a full-time job and freelance work. Without knowing it, Bowens-Mercado reminded me why I started the newsletter in the first place, and her example made it plain that my own mission was worth fighting for.

Bowens-Mercado is the owner and founder of Rhythm Brewing Co. in New Haven, Connecticut, making Rhythm the first and only Black-woman-owned brewery in the state. When founding the brewery in 2018, Bowens-Mercado became a member of a small cohort: Fewer than 1% of breweries are owned by Black people, and an even smaller percentage are owned by Black women. 

If you’ve seen the documentary “One Pint at a Time,” which highlights the Black brewers, brand owners, and influencers who are reshaping the craft beer industry, you’ll already be familiar with Bowens-Mercado’s infectious energy, and her persistent drive towards her goals. One target: becoming the first Black-owned, woman-owned, nationally distributed beer brand in the country. It’s a goal that many breweries wouldn’t dare utter, but for Bowens-Mercado, it’s simply a matter of hard work and time—and voicing her intentions is a key step towards making that vision become reality. 

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL

Rhythm Brewing is a celebration of three things Bowens-Mercado loves—craft Lagers, music, and dancing. But if you go deeper than that, it’s really an homage to Grandmas Nan and Bowens, who both enjoyed drinking pony bottles of Miller High Life while listening to artists like Etta James, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Stevie Wonder, and Aretha Franklin.  

“It really is a beautiful thing to be able to tell my grandmothers’ stories through my journey in beer,” says Bowens-Mercado. “I hope that through me telling their stories, I can open up doors for Black women, especially in an industry where their stories might not have been heard.”

Listening to Bowens-Mercado recount memories of her grandmothers—sitting on the porch laughing, occasionally taking sips from their bottles while listening to soulful music streaming from the house as a curious little Bowens-Mercado danced nearby—it’s clear how her love and respect for these women animates her work. Even the brewery’s tagline, “Finding your Rhythm in Life,” is taken from her Grandma Nan. “She told me to, ‘Just always find your rhythm. Whatever you do, whatever you want to be. It’s your rhythm. It’s your lane,’” says Bowens-Mercado. 

Initially, Bowens-Mercado had plans to attend law school after college, but instead joined her family’s construction business. She would stay in the industry for 12 years, until a pivotal business trip to Puerto Rico changed everything. 

Bowens-Mercado was asked to speak to other women in construction about working in a male-dominated industry, an experience that would later prepare her for the beer industry. On that trip, she visited the El San Juan Hotel and instantly fell in love with salsa. “[M]y life completely changed,” she recalls. “It was incredible. It was something out of a movie—people were dancing and everybody just looked so beautiful.”

Once she returned home, Bowens-Mercado took a salsa class that cemented her love for the Latin dance. Soon after, she left the family business to open Alisa’s House of Salsa, which she has owned and operated for over 25 years. During that time, she traveled the world and performed as a backup dancer for artists like Natti Natasha and Rubén Blades. But if beer was in the background then, it would soon move to center stage.

FINDING HER RHYTHM

Beer has always been a throughline in Bowens-Mercado’s life. “It was really the only adult beverage that I connected with. I was always the woman in the group that would order a Miller High Life or Budweiser while others ordered wine, mixed drinks, or martinis,” she says. Her interest in craft beer was piqued later, when she found out about beer festivals, and had the chance to sample beers from around the region. 

But as much as she loved it, craft beer wasn’t in Bowens-Mercado’s life plan. That changed after she attended a beer festival that had a disappointing range of Lagers available. While most would shrug off the frustration, Bowens-Mercado walked away with an idea to start a brewery, one that would make the kind of Lagers that her grandmothers would enjoy. 

Bowens-Mercado knew she wanted a clean, crisp Lager made especially with South African hops (“not just for the flavor—it was symbolic of the resilience and determination of my ancestors in Africa, especially in South Africa,” she says). In planning the beer, she turned to two local breweries—Shebeen Brewing Company in Wolcott and Armada Brewing in New Haven—to help with the recipe and source ingredients. 

“It really is a beautiful thing to be able to tell my grandmothers’ stories through my journey in beer. I hope that through me telling their stories, I can open up doors for Black women, especially in an industry where their stories might not have been heard.”

“I viewed just about every brewery profile to find the right fit—someone that was innovative and brought excitement to the industry. But most importantly, I wanted to find someone who could make a damn good beer. I also had a beer consultant who knew everyone in the industry and gave great advice on who to team up with,” says Bowens-Mercado. Eventually, she chose Armada Brewing to contract brew the beer, Rhythm, which became her flagship. 

Every month, Armada brews 30 barrels of Rhythm, which is double what the team started out with. Once distribution expands beyond Connecticut and the Northeast, Bowens-Mercado plans to ramp up production to 60-90 BBLs per month. She’s also working on opening a taproom in New Haven, a city that’s very near and dear to her heart. “My family has run their business here for the past five decades. To see a Rhythm Brewery taproom would be a dream come true,” she says. “The community is very important to us, and we intend to support and create employment opportunities for the folks in our own backyard.”

Back when she worked in construction, Bowens-Mercado made sure to include the community in the project, hiring locals to play a part in building up the area. When she fell in love with salsa, she didn’t stop at a salsa class—she opened her own New Haven studio. And now, with her own brewery, Bowens-Mercado has again shown a fearlessness, a desire to dive in head first—and to support the people around her as she does so.

THE RHYTHM NATION

While grateful for her growth so far, Bowens-Mercado isn’t satisfied with having her beer on shelves in the Constitution State alone. She wants Rhythm Brewing to have a national presence. “Wherever you see a Bud, Heineken, or Corona, you see Rhythm,” says Bowens-Mercado, outlining her vision of the brand’s future reach. “It will become a household name for generations and generations to come.” 

To help reach her goal, Bowens-Mercado and her team are connecting with communities and brands across the country. “We call ourselves the Rhythm Nation. I have people from not only Connecticut, but people in New York, Atlanta, LA, DC, Maryland who are just as excited as we are about the brand. The Rhythm Nation includes our customers, folks who follow us, who buy our merch, who attend our beer festivals, people who drive across state lines to purchase Rhythm,” says Bowens-Mercado. “It sounds so cliché, but we want to build a table. We want to bring seats to the table. If there’s not enough seats, then I will build them using my construction background.”

The Rhythm Nation also includes a group of supporters who have been with her since day one. “It includes my family, especially my mom, Millicent Bowens, who was with me on every sales visit for the first three years. And Lisa and her wife Nancy, Maurice Williams, and Jimmy Dennis,” says Bowens-Mercado, listing the friends who have uplifted her throughout her career.

Maurice Williams, who has been Bowens-Mercado’s friend for over 20 years, has a longstanding career as an advocate in the Black community, and serves as the community engagement and dissemination coordinator for the Equity Research and Innovation Center (ERIC) at Yale University.

“Rhythm Brewing Co. is just not a beer company, but it is a movement that empowers women and people of color to be part of a cultural moment,” says Williams. “We’re convinced that our brand will transcend communities of color while striving for excellence. If there are more positive images in a community, the investment and culture change that is needed for equity is possible. This is not just a beverage, it’s a movement.”

Williams envisions the brewery working with HBCUs in future to sponsor programs for entrepreneurship, allowing students to work towards higher education in an environment that reflects their culture. 

“Rhythm Brewing Co. is just not a beer company, but it is a movement that empowers women and people of color to be part of a cultural moment. We’re convinced that our brand will transcend communities of color while striving for excellence.”

After the worldwide Black Lives Matter protests following George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, many Black-owned brands experienced a significant uptick in social media followers and engagement. Between quarantine and the increased interest in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in beer, Rhythm Brewing suddenly found an expanded audience. “Our social media engagement quadrupled within the last couple of years. It was a whirlwind of DEI. [People realized] we don’t have to support these big brands. We were tapping into an untapped demographic,” says Bowens-Mercado. 

In the future, as Rhythm continues to grow, Bowens-Mercado envisions musical collaborations for the brand. She hopes to one day secure a partnership similar to the one Sean “Diddy” Combs has with Ciroc. (In 2007, four years after Ciroc’s founding, Combs oversaw its branding and marketing, resulting in massive growth for the spirit.) 

“Everybody is repping tequila, wine, cognacs, Champagnes, gin, and vodka, but no one has tapped into the beer industry,” says Bowens-Mercado. “We want to be the Ciroc of beer.”

Though Bowens-Mercado has ambitious goals, she believes in using her momentum to advance others around her. “It cannot be a competition when [Black and Brown people are] getting crumbs in a $114 billion industry. There’s no time for competition,” says Bowens-Mercado. 

YES WE CAN CAN

As she tells it, Rhythm is about more than beer for Bowens-Mercado—it’s about building opportunities for women and BIPOC people to become part of the industry. Last year, Bowens-Mercado collaborated with Samuel Adams on Up Tempo, an opportunity she believes will put her closer to her goal of national distribution. 

While the first partnership didn’t have a scholarship component, Bowens-Mercado partnered with Samuel Adams again this year, and the proceeds will go to The Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing & Distilling, spearheaded by Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery. The foundation provides scholarships to Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color within the brewing and distilling trades. 

“She’s definitely got a bubbly personality, and a good reputation. She’s been a good ally to have on our efforts. Then of course, not having a lot of Black-owned businesses or Black-owned breweries in Connecticut, specifically, her being the only female-, Black-owned brewery made it a no-brainer to reach out to her and get her involved in the whole concept and what we were doing.”

Also in 2021, Bowens-Mercado played an integral role in funding the Sacred Heart University’s NEBCO African American Brewers Scholarship, which supports Black students enrolled in the brewing science certificate program at Sacred Heart University. The scholarship is a collaborative effort led by Jamal Robinson of New England Brewing Co. and the Connecticut Brewers Guild; because Bowens-Mercado is so vocal about her mission to bring more women and BIPOC workers into the industry, she was asked to be part of the committee to fundraise and bring awareness to the program.

“She’s definitely got a bubbly personality, and a good reputation. She’s been a good ally to have on our efforts,” says Robinson. “Then of course, not having a lot of Black-owned businesses or Black-owned breweries in Connecticut, specifically, her being the only female-, Black-owned brewery made it a no-brainer to reach out to her and get her involved in the whole concept and what we were doing.”

Bowens-Mercado jumped at the chance to take part, and today has an even closer connection to the program.

“The beautiful thing about this scholarship is there are already people in the program,” says Bowens-Mercado. “As a matter of fact, Richelle Jackson is in the program, and she’s my intern. So, I’ve been able to not only get an intern who can potentially become one of the best Black female brewers in the country one day, but I get to take her under my wing so she can see this side [of the business].” 

After finishing the brewing program at Sacred Heart University, Jackson, who has dreams of opening her own brewery, started working with Bowens-Mercado. “Working with Alisa has been good, rewarding,” she says. “I decided to work with her because of her work ethic. Everything I wanted to learn from her, I have—how she brands and markets herself and handles customer service.”

In March of this year, Bowens-Mercado partnered with Joy Braddock of Hog River Brewing Co. in Hartford, Connecticut and Heather Wilson of Hop Culture Farms & Brew Co. in Colchester, Connecticut to create Bombshell IPA. Proceeds from the beer will go to the CT Pink Boots Society Scholarship for Women in Brewing, a scholarship established in 2021 to increase opportunities for women interested in pursuing a career in brewing at Sacred Heart University.

Bowens-Mercado has some other exciting possibilities she’s not yet ready to share with the public, but she’s gearing up for a huge launch this summer. Whatever the future holds for Rhythm Brewing, it’s guaranteed to be a bright one with Bowens-Mercado leading the charge. 

“I always say I’m on a mission. This is bigger than a can of beer. It’s about economics, equality, and employment opportunities,” she says. “It’s a bigger picture. What’s inside the can is delicious, but we’re pushing to make sure that we as people are included in those numbers. It’s about economic growth and generational wealth.”

Words by Stephanie Grant
Illustrations by Michelle D’Urbano