This brewery was ground-breaking in CT. Now Rhythm Brewing Co. is seeking new heights.

As the owner of Rhythm Brewing Co., Alisa Bowens-Mercado had made history by opening the first Black woman-owned breweries in the state in 2018.

With the Rhythm Brewery, she and her team have worked to shed light on diversity and inclusion in the craft beer industry over the years, while honoring her grandmother’s love for lagers.

Now, she is hoping to continue her history-making legacy, as one of the selected semi-finalists for this year’s Samuel Adams “Brewing The American Dream” Brewing and Business Experienceship Program.

“Just having an opportunity like ‘Brewing the American Dream’, it’s a dream…to think about where you have come as a brand and as a female and as a person of color. Then, this is really truly a dream that we can obtain, but bring other people with us,” Bowens-Mercado said. “That is the exciting part of Rhythm. We’ve come from… [a] very grassroots [level]. We went from zero accounts to 480 accounts for four…years. It took a lot of blood, sweat, tears, family, community and the supportive people that really believe in us and say, Yeah, you are the new face, a new taste of craft beer, and if there’s anything we can do to help you get there, then that’s where we’re going.”

As one of the semi-finalists, Bowens-Mercado is eligible for the Experienceship grand prize, which includes education and advancement opportunities to help the brewery towards continued success, increased mentorship from various areas of The Boston Beer Co., which can include “ingredients brewing, procurement, quality assurance, social media, graphic design, accounting/finance, legal, marketing, sales & distribution among others.”

Jennifer Glanville Love, director of brewery programs for Samuel Adams Boston Brewery, said that what caused her and the other judges to pick Bowens-Mercado and the Rhythm Brewery Co. as semi-finalists was their great work and focus for the community. A winner has not yet been chosen.

“That is so important today, more so now than ever. People need inclusive spaces to go, where they can…see drinkers like themselves drinking. Women in general, of course, [it was like] ‘oh, that’s a woman’s beer’….Well, now women are making beer. They’re making lagers. Their story for me was really around that,” Glanville Love said.

Glanville Love said she spoke to Bowens-Mercado several times, and “loved her energy and passion.”

Bowens-Mercado and her New Haven brewery “really stood out around just the work that they do around the community, the continued commitment to that, and engaging with their drinkers in the community, making a difference,” Glanville Love said. “The beer industry is quite old…we have not made much progress, but we’ve made a lot recently. That’s what we should focus on, how we continue to charge that forward. We can’t do it without breweries like Rhythm.”

Bowens-Mercado said that her community at Rhythm is rooting for her to win this competition.

“They’re rooting for us, because I always say, if I win, then we all win. That’s the key and community. They love watching the growth spurt. They are ecstatic that we are connected to a Sam Adams / Boston Beer and I will tell you why,” Bowens-Mercado said. “Anywhere you travel in the country, you see Sam Adams, you see Boston Beer. So, for us to be in that beer inner sanctum, they are proud. Our win is their win. We are semifinalists. We’ve made it this far. So, we’ve already actually won.”

Bowens-Mercado also said that she continues to give back to her community, especially the next generation of Black brewers in the state.

For example, she said, they are part of the Sacred Heart University growing Brewing Science program, a committee for which offers three scholarships awards annually for Black brewers

Bowens-Mercado also did a class in partnership with two other female-owned breweries, where a portion of the proceeds went to a women only brewing scholarship.

“When I say we are involved in community, it is about aligning with these folks here at these universities and making sure that there are other opportunities...That’s what we do. We gotta keep it going, " she said.

Bowens-Mercado said that winning the contest would be an opportunity of a lifetime.

“To win this would allow us to continue on this mission. We’re bigger than a can of beer. We are. This is what the American dream looks like. This is what hard work, perseverance, and the unknown of where you can go in any industry that might not be surrounded by folks that happen to have the same opportunity. We would have the ability to go to that level, where we can only dream of going,” she said.