The craft beer industry is facing yet another reckoning for sexual misconduct. Over the past week, Brienne Allan (@ratmagnet on Instagram) has been reposting (admittedly unverified or vetted) stories that women have sent her of sexual misconduct and assault that they’ve experienced at the hands of men in the craft beer industry around the world.
The thread started with Allan asking on her IG, “What sexist comments have you experienced?” Allan received so many replies, that there’s now an eight-part series of IG stories full of accusations of everything from customers dismissing women as brewers to verbal abuse to physical abuse to sexual assault against female co-workers, female industry professionals, and even female guests at brewery taprooms. It’s a harrowing wave of first-person accounts of an industry that has continually been unable to make real progress on sexism year after year.
The craft beer industry has been struggling to exorcise itself from rampant and blatant sexism for literal decades now — sexism that is almost always linked to the dismissal of women working in beer. Trillium, Founders, Rogue are just a few breweries that have faced down sexual and racial discrimination accusations over the past decade. Some have faced legal action and issued boilerplate apologies. But, as Allan’s posts make painfully clear, these issues remain.
There has been a shift over the past week, as male brewers who are specifically being called out are facing real-world repercussions. Breweries like BrewDog, Tired Hands, Modern Times Beer, Lord Hobo Brewing Company, Union Beer Distributors, and Hill Farmstead have all been called out by name. Vinepair reports that Søren Wagner, head brewer of Copenhagen’s Dry & Bitter Brewing Company, was put on leave due to allegations surfacing from Allan’s posts. Shaun Hill, brewmaster at Hill Farmstead, has issued a non-apology/”we’ll do better” letter to Vinepair in response to the current postings alleging several counts of sexual misconduct and bullying that have been corroborated by multiple women.
Modern Times Beer issued an apology via Vinepair for the misconduct actions carried out by some of its 300 employees and also promised to “do better.” Modern Times’ statement starts with, “First and foremost, we want to deeply apologize to anyone who has been harassed, discriminated against, prevented from succeeding, and otherwise hurt, either as our employee or by one of our employees. We can do better and be better, both as individuals and an organization.” At the very least, that feels like the San Diego brewery is acknowledging the problem and their part in it.
Perhaps the most important aspect of this week’s revelations is the empowerment it has given women to speak out en masse and highlight the continuous bullshit they face damn-near constantly as women in a white male-dominated industry.
Brewer Megan Murzyn (@isbeeracarb) has been posting about the sexism she’s faced in the industry for years. Her most recent post on Instagram compiles quotes she’s heard while brewing beer across the country and is a small glimpse into how deeply toxic this male-dominated industry can be on a day-to-day basis.