Featured News

[ May 5, 2013; 6:30 PM; ] What an amazing place Austin is, but there’s nothing more amazing than its many inspiring and exciting cooperatives!  For the last two years, College Houses Cooperatives has sponsored the production of a documentary on how our cooperative community became such a strong model for cooperatives everywhere. This film, called “Many Hands: Building a Cooperative Future” [...]

A few weeks ago, Jeff and I had the pleasure of sitting down with Claudia Munoz of the newly established Houston branch of the non-profit organization Restaurant Opportunities Center United, or ROCUnited. As a democratic, community-owned workplace offering living wages and benefits, we were approached by the ROC to join this year, which happens to [...]

WHAT DO YOU DO AT BLACK STAR?
I am one of the privileged and talented chefs exploring and enhancing my culinary skills at Black Star.
WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
I was born and raised right here in Austin, Texas.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE STYLE OF BEER?
If I have to choose a particular style, I’d have to go with pilsner; [...]

Co-ops exist to meet the needs of their member-owners, and subscribe to an internationally recognized set of principles and values. Our Ends Policies express our community’s values and act as the guide for our daily operation’s ability to meet the needs of our member-owners. We pass this on to our patrons in many forms of [...]

Spread the love of beer and the co-op movement! We invite you to rally your friends to join us as member-owners.   Just for fun, we’ll give you a little incentive for the new members you recruit during the months of August and September. You just need to be sure your name is listed under [...]

In the 2011 Fall Members’ Assembly Meeting, you selected Safe Place as one of the community organizations we will collectively support. Safe Place is dedicated to ending sexual and domestic violence by providing a safe location that fosters healing, prevention, and change. Safe Place relies on community donations help provide for a family’s basic needs. They [...]

I’m very happy to be able to introduce you to the newest brewpub co-op on the block: the Flying Bike Co-op from Seattle, Washington! Since April of this year, they have already established over 400 members (including fellow director Jake Carter and myself), and they’re creating quite a buzz in the Seattle beer scene. Please [...]

Every year, the Workers’ Assembly of Black Star Co-op monitors our Ends policies for the Board. Ends policies are written by the Board and approved by the Membership, and they define what outcomes we want from the operations of the business. You can find a copy of our entire policy set here, and you’ll find [...]

Normally I wouldn’t be blogging about a book release, but there’s something really awesome about this one besides its subject matter: Black Star Co-op (and Wheatsville Co-op) are featured in the book!
It’s called Locavesting, by Amy Coretese. It discusses the innovative ways in which people are investing in their local businesses and sidestepping more traditional [...]

This morning’s rain (much needed!) brought back memories of the day our brewhouse arrived. It came on truck, which was itself on a truck. Needless to say, unloading it in the pouring the rain with nothing more than a warehouse forklift and a pallet jack was less than fun.