Jessica and Rich Fierro’s Colorado Springs brewery wears its message on its sleeve.

In fact, the first of their business signs you’ll probably notice as you pull into the parking lot isn’t the one that says “Atrevida Beer Co,” but the big one to its left, over the front doors. The one announcing, “Diversity, it’s on tap!”

“Then you walk in and you see the pride banner we have up all year round, because we march in pride,” said Jessica Fierro. “Since the inception of my business, we’ve been promoting diversity. That’s just one of our creeds that we live by here.”

A long-time homebrewer, Fierro won the grand prize in a 2017 competitive Viceland TV reality show with her recipe for a tamarind-infused Bière de Garde, named Doña Neta and inspired by her grandmother. The following year, she became Colorado’s first Latina brewery owner and head brewer when she and Rich opened Atrevida in the former Great Storm Brewing location.

“Diversity means creating a space where regardless of color, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, everybody is literally welcome here and we’re just celebrating each other’s differences and each other’s cultures, and hopefully learning from them, learning from one another,” Fierro said.

Atrevida’s message extends to its menu board and such offerings as a Juneteenth brew, in honor of Freedom Day and the Emancipation of the Confederacy’s last remaining enslaved African Americans. There’s also a series honoring influential women, including civil rights leader and activist Dorothy Height and labor leader Dolores Huerta.

“I had a guy come in literally two days ago and say, who’s Dolores Huerta? I said, ‘Well, let me grab a beer, let me tell you,’” said Fierro, who went on to explain Huerta’s role, as an activist, advocate and Cesar Chavez’ right hand. “At the end of the conversation, we said ‘Cheers’ and it’s a good day, you know. That’s really what it’s about for me, and I really enjoy that factor of my business.”

Fierro has seen how beer can bring people together, for conversations that bridge divides, address difficult questions and, in the end, lead to a deeper kind of understanding.

One of her biggest “a-ha” moments came after she’d won the Beerland reality show. Her mother was undergoing chemotherapy at the time, and Fierro brought the medical staff some of her winning beer, Doña Neta. A few days later, she and her mom returned for an appointment, and the doctor pulled Fierro aside.

“She said, ‘There’s tamarind in your beer. Did you know tamarind is the number one ingredient in India?’” said Fierro, who then shared the story of her grandmother. “She grew up on it very differently than I grew up on it, but at the end of the day, we had tamarind, of all things, in common. What means one thing to me can be equally special to someone else. It’s more than just beer. It’s a way we can connect.”