SEATTLE — Tuesday marks the last day of Asian American and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Throughout the month, two Asian-owned breweries in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood have been making a difference one drink at a time.
"Celebrate being an Asian American in the United States is a beautiful thing," said Barry Chan, the co-founder of Lucky Envelope Brewing in Ballard. "Being an Asian American is Lucky Envelope Brewing."
The brewery donated a portion of their beer sales this month, resulting in thousands of dollars raised for two nonprofit organizations.
"The Asian American Journalists Association and we also partnered with The Very Asian Foundation to help spread some awareness about diversity," said Chan.
Meanwhile, just a couple blocks away from Lucky Envelope is Rueben’s Brews, which is also making a difference in the brewing industry and community.
"There's sort of a stereotype that in the brewing industry it's all white dudes with beards, but we're very much bucking that trend here by having two Korean-American women who are part of this ownership and are very integral to the operations of this brewery," said Grace Kim Robbings, one of the co-founders of Reuben's Brews.
Robbings, alongside her sister and their husbands, own the popular brewery. With help from another Asian-owned brewery called Thunder Island, they crafted a special beer this month to honor their Asian American culture, with a portion of its sales donated to a local non-profit, Families of Color Seattle.
“The label you can see an individual walking in two different worlds, one kind of more American or Western, and one more Korean in nature," said Robbings.
Although AANHPI month is coming to an end, both Asian-owned businesses hope representation of all cultures can be celebrated every month.
"It just allows everybody to dream bigger and know that everything is accessible to everyone and we just need to give a voice, we need to give a face to it," said Chan.