Jessica Infante joined Brewbound in 2019 after nearly a decade in a variety of marketing roles in the craft beer industry. Prior to that, she was a daily newspaper reporter at the Jersey Shore. Jess holds a bachelor’s degree in magazine journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and a master’s degree in integrated marketing communication from Emerson College. She is a certified Cicerone and lives in Salem, Massachusetts.
Newly appointed Duvel USA president Seraf De Smedt and members of the company’s leadership team discussed the path forward today nearly five months after the revelation of a toxic work environment led to leadership changes at the top of Boulevard Brewing Company. “We’ve focused a lot the last few months on collaboration and really having transparent and honest conversations,” vice president of communication and culture Julie Weeks told Brewbound.
The strains on the packaging supply chain that supports the beer industry are showing no sign of letting up. Demand for aluminum cans has far outpaced supply as at-home consumption spiked with the pandemic-forced closure of the on-premise channel last year, and that same rise in home use has also driven up the cost of cardboard packaging.
Craft rollup CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective and Three Weavers Brewing Company founder Lynne Weaver have reached an agreement in which Weaver and her investment group will reacquire the Inglewood, California-based craft brewery, the company announced today.
Consumers used the long weekend to sneak in an extra round with friends and family — and many purchased those drinks online. Sales on alcohol delivery on-demand marketplace Drizly spiked 30% on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, compared to the previous four Sundays in May, the company shared. The hard seltzer segment reached a 28% share of overall beer category sales during the holiday weekend, an increase of 3% over its overall share for the month.
Of the 121 regional craft beer companies beyond the top 50 — those that produce more than 15,000 barrels of beer annually and sell the majority of their volume through distribution — 67 recorded volume declines in 2020. That ratio — 55% — is a marked improvement over the 72% of top 50 craft breweries that posted volume declines.
After several accounts of sexual harassment at Worcester, Massachusetts-based Wormtown Brewery surfaced on social media in recent days, nearly all members of its ownership group have stepped down from their day-to-day roles in the company, with the exception of co-founder and brewmaster Ben Roesch, the brewery announced late Thursday.
As women from across the beer industry share stories on social media of their experiences with sexual harassment, assault and abuse in the beer and hospitality industries, it has become clear that the misogyny is widespread and being felt at all levels, from the taproom to the boardroom. Rachel Anderson, a co-founder of Indeed Brewing, said she experienced toxicity even as a co-owner. She shared her experience of being forced out of the Minneapolis-headquartered craft brewery that she helped build in an essay titled “I am a Craft Beer Casualty.”
Over the weekend, several breweries named in accounts of misogyny and misbehavior within the beer industry released statements. The leaders of Philadelphia-based Evil Genius Beer Company issued a statement on the brewery’s Instagram account on Saturday, May 22, that acknowledged past mismanagement and outlined the company’s next steps to improve its culture. Pollyanna Brewing Company, which announced the departure of former president and CEO Paul Ciciora last week, shared that it had since learned of “numerous allegations regarding Paul Ciciora and sexual misconduct.”
As more stories of workplace harassment and toxicity come to light in the craft beer industry, more companies have responded this week either terminating employees, announcing investigations, issuing apologies or statements of support for the victims. Brienne Allan has been sharing stories from the beer and restaurant industries of workplace harassment, assaults and toxicity on her Instagram account, @ratmagnet, now for the last 10 days, amounting to about 1,000 stories.
The BA is accepting grant applications on a rolling basis through November 1. The trade group’s Philanthropy and Outreach Subcommittee — a newly formed division of the organization’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee — will consider applications each month.
As allegations of sexual harassment, assault and other workplace hostilities continue to come to light on social media, the Brewers Association (BA) announced Wednesday several initiatives to combat the seemingly pervasive toxicity in the craft beer industry.
Jacob McKean, the founder and CEO of Modern Times, has resigned from his role after the San Diego craft brewery was named several times as a hostile workplace on a social media account that began sharing industry employees’ experiences of widespread sexism in the beer industry.
A chain reaction of personnel changes is beginning to course through several breweries, set off in recent days by a social media account’s mounting collection of hundreds of stories of widespread sexism in the beer industry.
