A cosplayer, a clinical trial developer, and a certified beer server walk into a bar.

Meet Denise Bronner, or her alter ego Kinky Sudz

A cosplayer, a clinical trial developer, and a certified beer server walk into a bar. The punchline? She’s just one person: Denise Bronner, a.k.a. @KinkySudz. 

It’s fitting to shine a spotlight on Bronner on May the Fourth, a most hallowed holiday for the nerdily inclined. The avid anime and comic book fan is known for her detailed costumes based on pop culture characters, and this year she’s leaning towards a Darth Vader concept. “He’s my guy,” she laughs. (Since I’m writing this before her next reveal, I’m as anxious as you, reader, to see what she comes up with.)

Her dedication to cosplaying and novel character development (like “Evil Grandma”) aren’t new to anyone familiar with her online persona, but she still has plenty of surprises for those who haven’t yet been introduced to her numerous personality facets. “A big thing that I think really shocks people is that I do have a PhD,” she laughs. A Detroit native now living in Southern California, Bronner formerly worked as a scientist, researcher, and pharmaceutical consultant. But thanks to COVID-19, her current job in the clinical trial space has evolved significantly, allowing her some unexpected time and space to further develop her passion for storytelling.

Storytelling is something she’s always loved: mediating conversations that allow people to tell their own stories and reveal their own truths by finding shared interests. It’s also something that comes easily to her, thanks to an endless curiosity of pretty much everything. “I’m into so many different things, I read up on so much stuff and I try so many different things that when I meet people, it’s really easy for me to connect,” she says. “I’ll strike up a conversation with anybody.”

Bronner’s interview series on Instagram, Sudz Under The Sun, is her latest pursuit in storytelling, one that typically uses craft beer as a jumping off point to delve into the core humanity of each interviewee. The organic conversations that arise often transcend the typical “how and why did you get into beer” interviews—and that’s exactly what she’s going for. “A lot of people do beer interviews, they’ll talk about beer, and that’s all they talk about is beer,” she says. “I really want to highlight the person. So, sure, ‘How did you get into craft beer, what do you do in craft beer,’ but what about you do I really want to highlight?”

Transcending the average “beer person interview” style has gleaned some fascinating conversations. “We’ve covered all kinds of topics: mental health, therapy, fatherhood,” Bronner explains. “When I [interviewed] @beeredblackman [Ralph Marion], he talked about how when he did his first beer, he had dedicated it to his great-grandmother. I just thought that was really interesting why he did that,” going on to say they eventually veered off into his love of wrestling, of which Marion is a huge fan. “It’s just really nice to hear what else they like to do, because these are people, right? Besides their beer personas, they have lives.”

Bronner has been interviewing people long before this series, but regardless of how many interviews she already has under her belt, she’s hard-pressed to pick a favorite. “Out of all of the people I’ve interviewed so far, I’ve liked every last one of them,” she says. “There are bits and pieces of them that, although I’ve been in contact with them—some more than others—I’ve learned something about them that made me go ‘I didn’t know that about you.’” 

So far, all of her guests have been Black, a conscious choice she plans to continue both domestically and as she expands internationally in order to continue giving voices to people typically overlooked by the craft beer community. “It’s not that Black people aren’t there [in beer]. They are. It’s just that they aren’t getting the recognition they should,” she says, explaining that despite the massive influence of Black culture in craft beer, it doesn’t yet adequately recognize that influence or extend a genuine invitation to Black people (or other marginalized groups) in general. 

“The thing with the series, Sudz Under the Sun, besides just focusing on the Black experience in beer, it was also trying to highlight these people, like really help to show there are more layers to them than them having any type of trauma or successes in beer,” she says. “It was kind of going beyond the ‘Let’s highlight you being a token when it comes to coming into a bar or brewery.’ It’s really trying to highlight them as a person to say ‘What else do you do? What else is of interest to you? Yes, we all connect on beer, but there might be other things that you never knew about this person and what they’re interested in. They may be a big comic book head, they may be really big into gardening, they could be an individual who’s really into anime… it’s really just trying to highlight that piece of them.” Beyond personal interests, she also specifically aims to highlight people in and out of the brewhouse, tapping into the homebrewing community, people who just drink (and love) beer as consumers, anything to “illustrate the far reaches of beer outside of just brewing.” 

Interviewing someone with such an obvious passion and skill for interviewing is actually a lot more fun than intimidating, although it is a little intimidating. When she called herself “an introvert who knows how to be an extrovert,” I felt myself nodding along to the familiar feeling. Deeply connecting with people through conversations around shared experiences, many of which are traumatic, difficult, or otherwise sensitive, requires gigantic reserves of energy, empathy, sympathy, and respect. Bronner is a pro at all of these, and best of all? She still manages to utilize playfulness and a light-hearted touch in every post she makes. Discussions about mental health take place next to photos of her dressed as a pinup girl: again, a conscious choice made in order to reflect her entire person, even if it’s something society tends to look down upon.

Even her handle Kinky Sudz is a nod towards what’s often considered anathema. “When you’re thinking about just being Black and having natural hair, it’s a really big taboo subject,” she says. “I wanted to play on this idea of taboos,” discussing subjects like sex, body positivity, and other seemingly controversial topics all with a grain of humor. “I thought Kinky Sudz would be hilarious, because when people would see the name, the first thing that comes to people’s minds is ‘Kiiiinky, right?’ It’s going to be a page of nothing but boobs and beer… and when people do come to my page, they’re like, ‘Oh this isn’t it at all!’ But people stay! It’s really funny.”

Bronner’s plans for the future remain far more based on following her interests and connecting with people she finds fascinating rather than chasing a follower count. Still, expanding her audience through a podcast or YouTube channel are both avenues she’s considering, especially as her ability to travel once again creeps ever closer. Regardless, she’s not planning on interrupting Sudz Under The Sun. “It’s not about getting any type of validation. I think it helps, but I just like doing it,” she says. “I don’t see a break coming anytime soon.”

Prohibitchin' is made possible by a sponsorship from Hopsbauer, a woman-owned hops brokerage company based in San Diego. Hopsbauer brings the best hops from around the world to craft breweries. Find out more by visiting Hopsbauer.com, and thanks to Liz Bauer for her generous support!

All content ©2021 Beth Demmon