Out of almost 70,000 businesses, only 999, or 1.4%, are Black-owned in the Denver area, a LendingTree survey reports. Wah Gwaan Brewing Company is one of those businesses.

Denver is considered the capital of dispensaries and breweries, but when it comes to Black ownership in those industries, it’s a capital of inequities

Growing up in The Bronx, Harsha Maragh was surrounded by Caribbean music, food, and neighbors as the daughter of two Jamaican immigrants. But after moving to Denver, she found the Mile High City lacking the cultural vibrancy that influenced her youth.

“The culture piece of it is the biggest differentiator,” said Maragh, who moved out to Colorado for graduate school but longed for her close-knit New York Jamaican community.

Beer has the power to bring people together. Through different brewing styles and the additions of fruits and spices, you can experience new flavors and learn about the stories, and cultures, behind them.

Denver’s beer scene will get a little more worldly — and a little more irie — this summer, when Wah Gwaan Brewing opens its doors in the former Intrepid Sojourner space on West Eighth Avenue.