33. Turn and Face the Strange: Newsletter Changes & The Brewery That Lies Built
An issue packed with exciting announcements and of course thoughts on That Documentary; plus supporting diverse breweries.
A New(ish) and Improved Hugging the Bar for 2022
Lots of housekeeping in this issue, but it’s exciting stuff, promise!
Hugging the Bar is undergoing some changes. These are all in the effort of moving closer toward my original goal when I decided to launch a newsletter, which is to really create an entire brand. I want Hugging the Bar firing on all cylinders, using of course the newsletter itself as well as interviews, events, and collaborations to contribute to improved visibility, representation, and inclusion in craft beer and beyond, in the entire beverage alcohol arena.
This means both a diversification of content, and it also means—you guessed it—monetization, baby. And here’s where I’m going to get vulnerable because that’s how we roll here. I find it deeply terrifying and, frankly, embarrassing to unveil a lot of the below. To put merchandise out into the world branded with a thing I created and actually think another human might spend their hard-earned cash on it, for example, feels downright unseemly. It is too much betting on myself! Is this how society has forced women to think? Is it impostor syndrome? General anxiety, and low self-esteem? Catholic school? Oh, I think it’s a cocktail of all of the above, my friend!
But. I want to believe in my mission and vision here for Hugging the Bar. So I’m going to. I want to do things like regularly donate to programs creating internships, scholarships, and mentorships for Black people, people of color, indigenous people, LGBTQIA+ people, differently abled people, and more in the beer and alcohol industries. I want to sometimes hand over the reins to other voices and highlight their writing, and I want to have virtual education events, and I want to be able to pay those contributors. I want this to grow into a platform for community and collaboration.
And so, let’s get to the specific announcements here.
First and foremost, the launchpad for being able to really brand Hugging the Bar is two graphics from brilliant illustrator Rachel Joan Wallis. YAY. You’ll be seeing both all over these announcements.
I have redesigned my website, and it now has a page for the newsletter. There, you’ll find Hugging the Bar merchandise. We’ll see how pre-orders go; so far, there’s a tee, a bottle opener, a patch, and a tote, and thanks to Rachel’s work, I love them all lots. Any purchases support the aforementioned Hugging the Bar mission.
Along with the merch, you’ll also find swag. Different from “merch” because it is free. Huzzah! There are stickers, coasters, magnets, and pins. You can score said swag by doing the following: Be a subscriber, and ask me! Check it out on my website, or cut right to the chase and email me at huggingthebar@gmail.com with the email address under which you subscribe to this newsletter, and a mailing address to receive the good stuff.
Another way you can support Hugging the Bar is via my also just-launched Patreon page. As a first step on the path toward paid newsletter subscription tiers, I’m starting with a breezy $3 per month. Right now, it gets you the aforementioned swag assortment plus 20% off all merch, and access to exclusive content that will be rolling out soon. You’ll also get updates on donations made—my first goal is $200 in Patreon earnings, at which point I’ll donate $100 to the Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing & Distilling. My second goal is hitting $100 in Patreon earnings per month, at which point I’ll establish a monthly $25 donation to Women of the Bevolution’s Brave Voices Fund.
To go full cheerleader mode for Hugging the Bar, I’ve created its own Instagram account. I actually wanted to just change my current @highwaytohops to @huggingthebar but Instagram thrives off of making every single little tiny thing you could ever have to on it maddening and impossible, so! Go follow it, love you!
And, perhaps most importantly, content! Up until now, issues have been a long-form piece, tarot, a reading rec, and a little Darby, as a treat. I’m going to mix things up to be able to roll with the weekly news and topics punches a bit more, get a bit weirder, highlight more folks and trends and places, etc. Sometimes it will still be one long-form piece, sometimes it will be a mini weekly scrapbook of beer and drinking culture content. Don’t worry, tarot, the reading rec, and the cranky pug aren’t going anywhere.
On that note, I’d love to hear from you! Are there things you sure do wish I’d talk about? People you want a Q&A with? Educators you’d love a future virtual event with? Maybe there are also topics on which you think it’d be just a dream if I stfu? I can take it! Comment or email or DM. And if you haven’t yet, please subscribe and tell your friends. Cheers!
Sky Is Blue, Grass Is Green, BrewDog Is a House of Lies—But Now What?
Sending out a newsletter this week without at least mentioning BBC One’s “Disclosure” BrewDog doc felt like the written equivalent of sticking my fingers in my ears and scream-singing. I won’t dwell too long here because other people have covered this already, much more in-depth, comprehensively, and smartly—Dave Infante for his newsletter, Fingers, for example.
The general takeaway, in my opinion, is that BrewDog is a house of lies. Its environmental promises and commitment to sustainability? Exhibit A: The lack of trees ever planted in the “Lost Forest” and the application for a grant with which to do so, rather than funding the project with Lost Lager sales as promised. Exhibit B: CEO and co-founder James Watt using a private jet like the Bobby Axelrod of “craft” beer, a.k.a. the exact Man BrewDog swore to stick it to. And how about the devotion to said “craft” beer, with a performative shunning of any “sellout” brewery—which successfully won the allegiance of self-righteous, pale ale-swilling “Punks”—all while Watt poured his own money into Heineken stock? How about the empty drum-beating, rallying a scrappy militia of Equity Punks, Watt’s pre-battle, on-a-horse speech moving them to part with their cash in order to be a part of a truly independent, different, authentic beer movement? A 25% sale of BrewDog to private equity firm TSG with a special investment tier padded with promises and privileges disagrees.
How about purposefully crafting an image as a different kind of company, one that—no matter how big it gets—makes the revolutionary effort of caring about each and every one of its employees? The kind of image that several of the American BrewDog bar employees interviewed in the doc cited as the (very good) reason they wanted the gig? Bollocks. It was all bollocks.
But…what now? As Infante points out, “Disclosure”’s documentary built a solid pile of ick in the case against BrewDog, but pretty much none of it is illegal. BrewDog deceiving the TTB to import its beer is both past the statute of limitations and irrelevant in terms of consequences, as it is the domestic importer whose license would have been at stake. And all of Watt’s behavior as described by many past employees—named and on-camera? It’s fucking creepy, inappropriate, and unsettling. It’s taking advantage of your position at the cost of others’ well-being. It’s the behavior of a megalomaniac. But it’s nothing that wouldn’t be extremely challenging to prosecute in any real way.
What this all chalks up to is that it’s up to the beer-buying public to determine BrewDog’s fate, and Watt’s fate. But what does that look like? The doc was impactful in the sense that it reached an audience far beyond the craft beer community, a community many of us often forget is so tiny. As Beth Demmon points out, those of us deeply invested in staying up-to-date on BrewDog proceedings and how past and present employees are affected? We’ve known about a lot of the doc’s findings for a while. But most of BrewDog’s consumer base probably didn’t. BrewDog’s reach includes many people who otherwise don’t give a hoot about craft beer and its goings-on. They want what they think tastes good, they want to support what they see as an independent company, they like the ethos, they like the options.
Even now that so many more people may know about BrewDog’s problem-riddled existence, what remains to be seen is whether they care. I talked about this—and BrewDog’s army of trolls, in particular—in a past issue, and even then, I was mainly talking about consumers who consider themselves craft beer enthusiasts. If they don’t care about Watt’s transgressions, or even feel galvanized to defend the company, how on earth do we expect people who like to casually frequent their local BrewDog bar or sip on Elvis Juice to care?
And, what does “caring” look like here? Siobhan Buchanan, @britishbeergirl, wrote on Instagram that it’s not about “canceling” BrewDog. In the long run, no one wants to see hundreds of people out of work. But we do want to see those people safe, happy, healthy, valued, and protected at work. It’s not about punishing the entire company forever, which won’t accomplish anything anyway, because BrewDog will most likely survive on the devotion of Punks and apathy of average beer drinkers. It’s about holding BrewDog’s feet to the fire until real, lasting change happens, like Watt’s resignation, for starters. And measures like those starting to roll out at Mikkeller.
Frankly, I would have loved to watch the doc’s reporter Mark Daly ask those Ohio superfans—you know, the ones with tattoos and a BrewDog rap—what they think about all of these issues, but maybe that’s just the confrontational American in me. And I think I already know what their responses would have been.
Beer Tarot!
This week I pulled the Nine of Wands.
Wands as a sign speaks to intuition, communication, and travel. This card in particular is all about courage, resilience, and persistence. Look at our dude. He has been through it. He’s got battle scars, but one last valiant effort is required of him and he’s ready.
It’s the final countdooowwwnnn.
(Is that stuck in your head now? Hope so.) This card feels relevant to the pandemic—think about hospitality workers, for instance. They fought and slogged and suffered and persisted and then we all thought we actually might be through the worst of it and then…not so much. For anyone who chooses to remain in the industry, they’ve had to go into battle yet again. This card is also a tarot form of a pep talk. It’s very home-stretch-of-spin-class: You’ve pushed yourself to what you think are your limits, you’re romanticizing death’s sweet embrace, and your punchably positive instructor screams at you over Britney that you’ve got one more shove and you can do it, you can show this Monday who’s boss, fuck your problems, fuck the haters, fuck the naysayers, fuck your shift manager Susan and fuck last night’s Tinder date; LET’S RIDE. (I’ve taken exactly one spin class.)
Look, no matter what it is, from life to work to relationships to this burning, old white man-ruled world we live in, we’ve all had so much asked of us—too much. We’ve been through the ringer, and no, we shouldn’t have to fight so hard for what we need. But this card tells us all that despite the fact shit sucks, we can do this. Whatever road we choose to walk down, whatever fight we rise to, we’ve got it in us to do it. We can win. And our endurance will be rewarded. Whatever change you want to make, whatever goal you want to work toward: LET’S RIDE.
In terms of a beer rec, what I get from this tarot card is to go out there and make sure you’re drinking and supporting and enjoying craft beer made by anyone from any community that has been all too underrepresented in the industry. Remember how much any non-cishet white dude had to commit to having a presence in craft beer, and cheers to every single one of them, from Crowns & Hops to Funkytown Brewery to Rhythm Brewing to Lady Justice Brewing to Bow & Arrow and beyond.
This Week’s Boozy Reading Rec
The history of the once loved, now maligned term “foodie”; a smart and honest critique of the knowledge-based gate-keeping in the beverage connoisseur scene; a reflection on America’s troubled relationship with alcohol plus its puritanical roots—this piece has it all. I love Danny Chau’s “Drink Culture Doesn’t Have a Foodie. Here’s Why.” for PUNCH. It’s packed with history and cultural criticism and its just plain written beautifully.
Ex-BEER-ience of the Week
Here’s a new little feature we’re going to try out, and yes, I’m married to the punny name, so forget your protestations. Here, I’ll be spotlighting a beer, a bar, a brewery, an event, a pairing—really anything in Beer World.
This week, it was going back to Spuyten Duyvil for the first time since the pandemic started. This is one of the best beer bars in New York, maybe the world, and one of those “started it all” spots for me. And, I got to drink a cask ale! A golden ale from Dutchess Ales and Bluejacket.
Until next week, here is Darby a couple of years ago at Fat Orange Cat, when you could still hang there—those were the days.
Merch! Swag! Merch and swag!