{"id":16309,"date":"2021-02-01T05:00:48","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T11:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/?p=16309"},"modified":"2021-02-01T05:00:48","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T11:00:48","slug":"craft-brewery-exceptionalism-and-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/craft-brewery-exceptionalism-and-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Craft brewery exceptionalism . . . and reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

In \u201cCraft: An Argument,\u201d<\/a> Pete Brown writes, \u201c(Craft) isn\u2019t just about the things we make; it\u2019s about the kind of people we are. And for this, we get to an unspoken assumption we may be reluctant to admit even to ourselves; we believe that makers and buyers of craft products are morally superior to other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

When will people quit believing that?<\/p>\n

The Kansas City Star dug deep into what has been going on for years at Boulevard Brewing for years but remained mostly secret outside the brewery doors until last week. The headline \u2014 Boulevard leaders knew of sexual harassment but didn\u2019t stop it. \u2018They were all aware\u2019<\/a><\/strong> \u2014 only hints at how bad things were.<\/p>\n

To cut to the chase, \u201cSixteen former and current Boulevard employees interviewed by The Star said an intense and insular culture helped to breed a toxic workplace that is especially unsafe for women \u2014 ranging from a \u2018boys\u2019 club\u2019 atmosphere to gender discrimination to sexual harassment and assault.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notice the difference as this story unfolded between when women were speaking and when men did. Patt Mullin, digital marketing director, Tuesday tweeted<\/a>: \u201cBehind almost every company crisis or controversy are a lot of innocent people within who are hurting, frustrated, trying their best to do right and just LIVE. Remember those people.\u201d
\n<\/p>\n

Jeff Krum, the company president who resigned by the end of the week, told employees on Monday, \u201cmy gut response to this is, frankly, is anger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo fundamentally it\u2019s, I guess, a mark of the times we live in that people can say virtually anything and that the person or the business about whom they say it is deemed to be guilty until proven innocent,\u201d Krum said. <\/p>\n

His tone had not changed when he told the Star after his departure, \u201cThe rules have changed. There is now just one side to every story. Those who resist or who do not conform are scorned, and personally destroyed for good measure.\u201d <\/p>\n

Krum would not have consumers think the worst of their local brewery, and that\u2019s not to say you should. But what has apparently been going on at Boulevard for so long without being reported suggests the need to ask more questions. Questions from local newspapers, from loyal fans, from others breweries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you ever want to work in the beer industry,\u201d said Keke Gibb, who wrote a Reddit post that set off the accusations against Boulevard, \u201cyou can\u2019t talk about abuses in the beer industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t change that mine is a male voice, so will point you elsewhere for takeaways:<\/p>\n

– A headline at Good Beer Hunting speaks the truth: Get Out of Your Own Way \u2014 Employees Won\u2019t Speak Up Until the Brewing Industry Tears Down Its Walls.<\/a><\/strong> Kate Bernot offers examples of what women have been expected to tolerate as well as but also the trauma that may be involved when they choose to come forward. \u201cThese challenges aren\u2019t unique to those experiencing abuse within the brewing sphere; they span industries. And like other industries, beer has committed itself to doing better. Applauding whistleblowers for coming forward is a start. Reducing the barriers they have to doing so is a next step.\u201d <\/p>\n

– Writing at VinePair, Beth Demmon concludes<\/a>, \u201cA better solution? Believe women. Putting women in leadership roles where they can identify areas of improvement \u2014 before they become areas of reproach \u2014 is a crucial step that many breweries have yet to take. And, breweries: If you\u2019re going to hop on a progressive initiative like Women\u2019s Brew Day, or Black is Beautiful, or any of the opportunities to support marginalized members of the beer community, back up those splashy PR moves with action. Earn the clout through work, in the brewhouse and out. Don\u2019t assume you have it, regardless of how good your beers are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In \u201cCraft: An Argument,\u201d Pete Brown writes, \u201c(Craft) isn\u2019t just about the things we make; it\u2019s about the kind of people we are. And for this, we get to an unspoken assumption we may be reluctant to admit even to ourselves; we believe that makers and buyers of craft products are morally superior to other … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[292],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4wTn-4f3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16309"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16318,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16309\/revisions\/16318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}