Changes at this Fresno brewery: New beer, new food and boosting other Black businesses
The CEO of Full Circle Brewing Co. has just raced back from Disneyland with his kids on Saturday morning in time to host a rib cook-off at the downtown beer garden.
Through a haze of barbecue rib-scented smoke — he’s also competing in the cook-off celebrating Black History Month — Arthur Moye is detailing everything going on at the Fulton Street business in Fresno’s Brewery District.
If it seems like he’s got a lot going on, yeah, he does. And so does the brewery.
For starters, there’s a new craft beer with a “ByBlack” label. And a cider from the Northern California cider brand that the brewery bought a while back.
Full Circle has also launched a new permanent food truck with smash burgers and a chicken sandwich that is already gaining a reputation.
And Moye, who is also majority owner of the brewery, is stepping up his support of other Black-owned businesses.
Beer and cider
Full Circle has created two new drinks for Black History Month.
The first is the Juicy Vibes hazy pale ale, a “super crisp” citrusy beer with 5% alcohol by volume.
The other is The Sickle pineapple cider under the Sonoma Cider brand (joining previous ciders like The Pitchfork and The Hatchet).
Both are available at national retailers across California such as Costco, Safeway, Bevmo! and Total Wine & More. They’re also on tap and in cans at the brewery, and can be purchased for delivery or shipping in California at fullcirclebrewing.com.
At the brewery, you can also buy cans of Beer is Black History, a collaboration with Oak Park Brewing Co. in Sacramento.
Juicy Vibes and The Sickle are part of a collaboration with ByBlack (a national directory of certified Black-owned businesses encouraging people to “buy Black”), powered by U.S. Black Chambers, Inc.
The cans have labels for both organizations (along with a similar label Walmart uses to show a product is made by a minority-run company).
When Juicy Vibes and The Sickle are purchased, 1% goes to the U.S. Black Chambers organization, which aims to empower businesses economically.
Huge growth and hard cider
Moye bought Full Circle in 2016, when everything — brewing, drinking and hosting live performances — happened in a brick building in a dark corner of downtown on F Street.
Since then, business has exploded.
The F Street location now handles the brewing and bottling side of things.
Full Circle joined the growing Brewery District on Fulton Street with its tasting room in 2021. It infused a fun vibe into the spot near Mono Street by painting its mascot Ernie (a skull with hops growing from his head) on the walls, along with the words, “Cold beer. Live music. A third thing.”
The beer is now for sale at every major big-box retailer. It’s distributed in 10 states.
During the pandemic, Full Circle bought Sonoma Cider, a Healdsburg-based hard cider brand that liquidated to pay off its debts in 2018.
It’s been making cider under the name ever since.
This time around, the label has Full Circle’s playful vibe.
“Now we’re putting our spin on it, refreshing the label with the sickle,” Moye said.
Why does Black-owned matter?
“It’s not something we used to talk about, back in the day,” Moye said of Black business owners.
But less than 1% of the 9,000 breweries in the U.S. have owners who are Black, according to a study by the Brewers Association.
The few that do tend to be small and haven’t made the jump to large-scale distribution in big stores, Moye noted.
Black-owned small businesses are a vital part of the economy, said Alicea Gay, vice president of external affairs at ByBlack, which certifies Black businesses for free.
“Despite their achievements and innovations, the Black business community has historically grappled with systemic and underlying obstacles compared to any other racial group,” she said in an email to The Bee.
Growing a business takes money, and Black people have historically faced challenges getting capital from banks or other investors, Moye said.
“A way that a lot of businesses get money is from their friends and family,” he said. “If your friends and family are historically impoverished, you’re not going to get a lot.”
One way to overcome that is to do what Full Circle has been doing: crowdfunding.
That’s when businesses ask the public to invest in them, in exchange for shares in the company.
The crowd equity funding that Full Circle uses is a formal process regulated by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
The brewery has raised more than $1 million to fund new bottling and canning lines, and new trucks.
Moye is hoping other Black-owned businesses will use the method, too.
He’s leading a webinar about the process, called “How to Raise $1 million for Your Business” from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 16. The event is geared toward Black entrepreneurs, but open to anyone. A spot can be reserved online.
Food truck
Full Circle’s latest venture is buying and opening its own food truck.
Food trucks have been frequent visitors to the beer garden, though Grumpy Burger Lady’s food is not a regular presence anymore.
Now the brewery’s main source of food is Full Circle Bistro, with regular weekend hours from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. It’s also open for special events.
Customers don’t have to leave to get a meal or worry about which food truck will be there when wanting a beer.
“They can go to our destination to have a burger and a beer,” Moye said. “It’s not just people coming to hang out.”
The bistro has a pub-style menu designed to be paired with beer.
The $13 Ernie Smash is made from two hamburger patties cooked til thin and crispy and stacked on a garlic-buttered bun with melted cheddar and caramelized onions.
Another sandwich getting some attention is the $14 Capt’n Save A Smash chicken sandwich, a spin on the Save A Hop beer. It’s grilled chicken breast with caramelized onions and Monterey jack cheese.
Both come with a generous slathering of Feeling My Sauce, nod to the Feeling My Stout beer. It’s a combination of familiar ingredients (ketchup, mayo and Worcestershire sauce, among others) that when combined in just the right way make something totally different.
“I just threw it together and everybody just loved it,” said chef and food service manager Jacob Holder.
It can also be ordered as a side for dipping tater tots, fried zucchini sticks, and mozzarella sticks, and is drizzled atop the “totchos” made with tater tots.
Holder, who used to work on the beer production side, is no stranger to creating food for crowds of people. A Navy veteran, he spent five years on a submarine making three meals a day for 150 crew members in a kitchen that’s smaller than the food truck.
Details
Full Circle Brewing Co. is at 712 Fulton St. The tasting room is open daily. Full Circle Bistro is open from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays.
