Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Spangalang Brewery was struggling. A tiny beer maker located in the former DMV office in Five Points Plaza, Spangalang had opened in 2015 and become a favorite for locals, but not the kind of regional draw that drives huge growth.
So when brewery owners Darren Boyd and Taylor Rees got a major investment offer from their landlord, the Flyfisher Group, they planned to accept. Flyfisher, which owns or operates several properties and businesses in the neighborhood, would take a 40% share, and as a Black-owned business, it would lend legitimacy in the historically Black neighborhood, Rees said at the time.