What are we doing about it? Facing sexism and racism in the beer industry

By: Katie Stinchon, executive director of the Mass Brewers Guild 

Last week, local brewer and former Pink Boots Boston Chapter Leader, Brienne Allan put out a call to women everywhere through her personal Instagram page – “tell me your stories and experiences of sexism in the industry.” 

The call was answered, and continues to be answered, by thousands of women across the nation and around the globe in all three tiers of the beer industry and hospitality industry. Allan’s Instagram account of 2k followers has now climbed to 46.7k followers (at the time I am writing this) and the stories are still coming. 

I’ve personally read every story that’s been posted to date. It’s been heartbreaking and devastating to read about the author’s pain, humiliation and fear.  

Sexism and racism aren’t unique to our industry. They are societal and systemic issues that we know won’t change overnight. We know that we can do better. 

So what are we – the Mass Brewers Guild - doing about it as a collective? How are we supporting our member breweries to be allies?  

Our association formed its diversity and inclusion committee in 2019. Since then we’ve had Dr. J, the diversity ambassador from the Brewers Association and founder of Crafted For All, address members and share best practices for diversifying our industry. Local law firm, Bowditch, delivered a sexual harassment training with our state’s brewery owners and provided resources.  We held a panel discussion about racism last fall during MBG Con, and we created a diversity and inclusion success story series on our blog to inspire breweries to learn from one another.

Last month, we launched the industry’s first diversity & inclusion resource center, Hop Forward Equality with our partners at Mass. Bay Brewing Co. This free self-help tool aims to solve the two issues that I hear most from our brewing community – that they don’t know where to go for help or that they don’t have the resources to access a professional. We are not experts. Our partners are. The resources on this site will continue to grow and evolve as our partners do. 

Understanding and growing through this work requires continuous education and we plan to host yearly trainings and workshops to support that journey. Later this year, we will host a two part series - one training specifically for CEOs and founders to make sure that they understand their own unconscious bias, that they are listening to their employees, and allocating enough resources to see real change within their breweries. 

The second training will support brewery employees by providing bystander training to help people understand their role in speaking out. This will also include metrics and goal setting to help breweries stay on track with their own internal D&I efforts. 

The Mass Brewers Guild has also been writing its own code of ethics for the association that members will be bound to. This will include a complaint process so that members can hold each other accountable. It will also provide an avenue for employees to come forward with allegations. We are continuing to hold focus groups with breweries and are working on forming a committee that would review these allegations and help the association to create an action plan. 

Our new travel show, Black Brew Dialogues hopes to bring to light the many ways in which our industry can become more inclusive. Viewers will follow host Collin Knight and learn alongside him as he tours breweries, sees the brewing process in full swing, and meets the owners and brewers. Together, they’ll have a candid conversation over a beer about that brewery’s diversity & inclusion efforts. Each episode will uncover where that brewery is succeeding and where they are still struggling in their work. The pilot episode features black owned, White Lion Brewing co., and future episodes plan to cover all aspects of diversity & inclusion, including LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, generational and gender gaps and race. 

Lastly, the Mass Brewers Guild is currently looking into ways that as an association we can provide more HR resources to smaller breweries that might not have the support they need. We hope to remove any barriers to access a professional to troubleshoot situations and ensure they are being handled appropriately. 

The work has just begun and our efforts will continue. 

Together we can ensure that everyone feels safe and respected within our breweries and the hospitality industry as a whole. We can empower victims to report harassment and abuse. We can empower bystanders to speak up. We can educate managers and owners to listen and take action. We can take steps to make change. 

Let this moment be one that removes blinders, inspires education, creates awareness and propels our industry forward. 

Let’s get to work.