UP FRONT | FOOD & DRINK
FINAL
BY BETH DEMMON
DRAUGHT Elephant in the tap room
COURTESY OF MELVIN BREWING
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ew brewery openings in San Diego don’t cause much of a stir nowadays, but breweries that have won a mountain of awards tend to spark some buzz. Those with consistently killer West Coast-style IPAs get people talking even more, and when the brewer is a San Diego legend, beer nerds reach Pliny the Younger-type levels of excitement. Melvin Brewing from Wyoming fits all that criteria, plus a little extra. They plan to open a new brewpub in the East Village in October, but initial excitement has been dampened with controversy. Former brewer Kirk McHale (ex-Pizza Port and Breakwater Brewing) was publicly accused earlier this year of inappropriate touching (a form of sexual assault), which led to mass boycotts and a huge backlash against the brand. On top of that, until recently, Melvin Brewing’s “Contact Us” page featured tasteless verbiage like “Show us on the doll where Melvin Brewing touched you.” “We like to push the envelope a little,” proclaimed Melissa DePierro, Melvin’s brewpubs consultant at a recent meet-and-greet at East Village’s Knotty Barrel in reference to their marketing plan. Ted Whitney, Melvin’s sales director, called this former strategy “a big fuck you to the market,” a tactic which he admits hasn’t aged well in the #MeToo era. If this double-headed brouhaha could be chalked up to a learning experience that resulted in positive change within the industry, I’d be all for it. But despite pleasant conversations with several Melvin employees, I’m not convinced about the motives behind the change of heart. When I asked Melvin employees (April Brigham, head of human resources; Jamie Morris, general manager and DePierro) about McHale’s admitted touching incident at Bellingham, Washington’s Menace Brewing last November, they were quick to downplay it. Brigham explained that she contacted the victim and Menace’s owner for their side of the story. “We’re not excusing anything, there was just no sexual assault,” claims Brigham. “She [the victim] was not groped. Not grabbed. Not fondled. Kirk’s always been touchy, but he’s not a sexual predator.” I’m no legal expert, but I’m (#humblebrag) pretty good at Googling. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission explains: “harassment can include sexual harassment or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.” Sliding a hand across someone’s butt and onto their upper thigh without consent, as McHale is alleged to have done, qualifies as a form of sexual assault. And while it’s possible this one instance was exaggerated, there seems to be a pattern of misbehavior emerging at Melvin and some of it has taken place in San Diego. Kristina Blake, tasting room manager at Council Brewing Company, described a similar incident she witnessed at a Melvin Brewing beer dinner during San Diego Beer Week 2017. According to Blake, a female bartender bent over in the course of her work during the event. An un-
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Melvin Brewing identified Melvin employee attempted to slap her rear end. Blake says she immediately confronted him and demanded he stop. “He apologized, but it was more confirmation of what kind of jerks they are,” she said. “This ‘bro’ culture needs to die.” This wasn’t the only isolated incident during the event, according to another guest (who requested anonymity). He described the vibe as “uncomfortable” and claimed that “one of the Melvin employees was parading around his female friend as if she were available for sexual services. It felt really weird.” Melvin’s far from the only offender, even locally, but that shouldn’t negate its role. Craft beer, along with the entire service industry, can be a culture of borderline inappropriateness. Add alcohol to the mix, and I’m surprised this doesn’t get more attention (because it happens all the time). Whitney claims that the majority of management positions at Melvin are held by women, which, to be fair, is rare in the craft beer industry. It’s an admirable metric, but “bro” culture doesn’t mean women are excluded from strategically cultivating a vibe of toxic masculinity. He described efforts to become a “diverse and inclusive space,” which I think is possible. I hope San Diego is a part of that change. But when I hear comments like “don’t take it too seriously. It’s just beer” (Morris), I have to question whether any transformations will last. Melvin’s beer is great, no doubt about it. And for those who have outrage fatigue, by all means patronize Melvin when they open. But as Brigham said to me, “you don’t have to buy a beer at a place you don’t agree with.” Unless I see genuine change, I don’t plan to. Write to bethd@sdcitybeat.com or check her out on Instagram at @thedelightedbite.
JULY 25, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 11