Difficult Subjects
Post has been updated at the end with Mike Hunsaker’s first and second responses.
A quick program note. I am visiting my elderly parents this week. It’s the first time in 15 months I’ve been able to see them, and their situation is tenuous. I suspect a huge amount of my attention will be going into this in coming weeks, and I expect it to affect the content here. Life is like that sometimes.
Beyond my situation, I hope you’re all following the recent news about sexism and sexual harassment in the beer industry. It’s a story that deserves as much attention as possible. Last week, Brienne Allan, who works at Notch in Massachusetts, began posting reports on Instagram of incidents of harassment and worse from women working in beer (she was not talking about Notch). Although we’ve known for years this is a problem, the sheer volume of cases Brienne posted left us all dazed and very sad.
For background, here are three excellent stories to read:
Beth Demmon gives a great overview and backgrounder.
Kate Bernot digs into the backlash against Brienne and some of the legal issues.
Jessica Infante adds additional reporting, and
Beth Demmon adds yet more reporting this morning.
Finally, this Google doc summarizes some of the accusations in one location.
This is going to be a painful reckoning for the beer industry. Reports to Brienne identified some of the buzziest breweries in the country, like Hill Farmstead (VT), Tired Hands (PA), and Modern Times (CA). Owners in the latter two have already announced they’ll step aside.
In our region, women have also quite credibly accused Mike Hunsaker of Grains of Wrath (WA/OR) for mistreating women. (See Holly Amlin @pdxbeergirl on Instagram or the Beervana FB page for even more than Brienne captured). So far, Hunsaker has not responded. He has many friends in the industry and has done tons of collaborations, so confronting him will be hard. I’ll try to follow up when I’m back in town.
We can support women in this industry by asking hard questions of those who have been identified. Not every person accused of harassment or misconduct may have committed it—everyone accused deserves a chance to respond. Moreover, we have to be able to distinguish between different kinds of conduct—some is extremely grave and we need to hold perpetrators of those acts to the most serious accountability (including legal action). What we can’t abide is a culture in which we don’t ask those questions and don’t support people who come forward to report misconduct. Everyone from customers to CEOs should hold breweries responsible for the behavior of their owners and employees.
As a personal comment, my heart goes out to all the women who have experienced this toxic sh*t. It’s not acceptable and I admire your courage in calling out the bad behavior. Brienne Allan is unsurprisingly experiencing a lot of blowback and that’s unacceptable as well. She’s a real hero for putting herself out there knowing she’d become a target of backlash—which of course has happened. It takes incredible courage and grace to do such a thing.
You don’t have to be a woman (or BIPOC, when the examples are racist, or LGBTQ, when they’re gay- or transphobic) to identify with them in these situations. We are all humans deserving respect, kindness, and equity. My thoughts are with you all—
Update, 9 am, May 20. Mike Hunsaker, owner of Grains of Wrath, posted an initial response on Facebook and Instagram, and then a few hours later added a second response. I am posting both in full. His first statement:
Recently, a situation from my past was re-posted. To provide context for what is being said about me, and because I am in a treatment program where open dialogue is encouraged, I wanted to give some background.
3 years ago I made a terrible mistake and was unfaithful to my girlfriend. Following that I went into a series of relationships that were not healthy. In short, I was very promiscuous. 11 months ago this cycle of poor choices led me to seek treatment- counseling and medication, to help me change my behaviors and get control of my personal life. I've been very open about my struggles, and family and friends have seen the change I've worked extremely hard to create and make sure things of my past stay in the past as I move forward to being a better person every day.
While this was all my PERSONAL life, I am so very sorry that these poor choices are now reflecting on the excellent people and products at Grains of Wrath. I emplore those who have any questions or concerns to ask me personally. I'm happy to talk to you and answer any questions you may have because open and honest dialogue is the only way to move forward.
I appreciate your understanding.
And his second statement a few hours later:
I failed to address some of the accusations made so I will do so now.
There was an incident in which I approached one of our employees and our Chef regarding an incident at a company holiday party where we got in a verbal altercation. This was in no way a sexual harassment or sexually driven incident, and to our knowledge, no other sexual harassment issues have been brought forward to management, ownership or to our third party liaison for Human Resources. The other partners in Grains of Wrath asked me to take some time off and away from the brewery until they could do a proper investigation with the employees involved and come to an amicable resolution to all parties. I regret my actions that night, and we lost some good people as a result. I am incredibly sorry for the people that were hurt throughout that situation.
Photo: YCH