sisro19 Reckless Brewing brings problematic behavior to the freont - San Diego CilyBeat FOOD & DRINK San Diego an Dek March 7, 2019 5:07 PM Comment Faéa Reckless Brewing brings problematic behavior to the forefront Brewery parodying Black Lives Matter sparks backlash in the beer community by Beth Demmon Print On March 5, Reckless Brewing Company posted a rambling Facebook post promoting the renaming of their “Sultry Black” lager to “Black Lagers Matter.” Iitpsdctybeat.comfood-drinkfinal-draughtirckloss-browing-brings-roblematic-behavior-o-the-frefon! a0ann3i2019 Reckless Brewing brings problematic behavior to the freont - San Diego CilyBeat INION CULTURE MUSIC FOOD&DRINK EVENTS NEIGHBORHOODS GALLERY SPECIALISSUES FREE STUFF ARCHIVE egy ser Ihave something very serious to talk to you about today. It’s about the discrimination that | have observed in the craft beer industry. Specifically, the discrimination against black beers. There's this one beer that | have at Reckless, by the name of Sultry Black, and it’s quite frankly one of my favorite beer if not the best beer I make, but it has been. neglected most likely because it's black. It's dark as the sky on a moonless night and it's hoppy and wonderfully delicious. People typically don't even give it a try. They see that it's black and they just make assumptions about its character without giving it a chance. It may be because of Where they grew up- perhaps in a place where you just don't see black beers, or perhaps from their parents- and black beers weren't even spoken of and when they were it was the type of beer that ‘those other people drink.” You can call me an idealist but | have a dream. | have a dream of a world where beers are judged not by their color but by the content of their characters. Now, | know many of you may be thinking that you are open-minded and don’t discriminate, but if you really look into your hearts, is that really true? Have you ever ordered Sultry Black? If the answer is “no”, then you may be an anti-black-ite. Unfortunately you would not be alone, but it’s possible to change. And, it's time to change now! And to do my part to try to help to change minds, | am renaming Sultry Black- Black Lagers Matter. Black Lagers Matter is on tap again this week at Reckless. Reckless Brewing- the most woke brewery in town It was unsurprising, needless to say, when the post did not go over well. Reactions to the Black Lives Matter-parodied name were quick and overwhelmingly negative. One of the commenters, Pierrie Dowles, is a production employee at Belching Beaver in Oceanside (another brewery that has received some criticisms for having a juvenile sense of humor). He shared his thoughts with me over email in the wake of the controversy. tp: sdekyboat conviood-drinkinal-deaughtrackoss-brewing-brings-problomatic-behavior-to-te-foretron! 2110ann3i2019 Reckless Brewing brings problematic behavior to the freont - San Diego CilyBeat FOOD & DRINK MiKe @ Slap IIT (ne Tace ana-a step DackWaras Trom tat; It's shocking that we're here in 2019 and a brewery/business owner would post something like this publicly and not stop to think maybe this isn't a good idea.” Cody Thompson, host on local podcast Beer Night in San Diego, agrees that this type of talk should have no place inside or outside San Diego. “People should be outraged by blatantly racist marketing campaigns.” Reckless owner Dave Hyndman _ was the man behind the social media posts and is the sole so Mata fom nest person responsible for igniting oben oie Pender the fury. Now comes the “but.” a But I've taken a hard look at the local beer community. We are partially at fault due to our silence and passivity through the years that allows people to think The Twitter post this type of behavior is permissible. We are guilty of keeping “open secrets”—whispers of harassment, stories of sexism and tales of assault simmer just below the polished surface we call “the capital of craft.” Occasionally the mob mentality outs a particularly nefarious offender. But for the most part, these normalized offenses remain unspoken and under- the-radar for a variety of reasons. titpsdctybeat.comfood-drinkfinal-draughtirckloss-browing-brings-problematic-behavio-o-he-frefon!ann3i2019 Reckless Brewing brings problematic behavior to the freont - San Diego CiyBeat FOOD & DRINK imoarance vs; actuar racismy; beer Kulture aaaresses te concept of selective outrage in their recent (brilliant) essay about the Founders Brewing Company lawsuit. Secondly, there are also individuals who are happy to swap stories off-the-record, but shy away from backing up their accusations publicly. For some victims, they have a desire to avoid airing personal trauma, which is completely understandable and totally valid. Then there's the selfish urge to want to be “one of the gang” within the San Diego beer community. It’s not always “cool” to call people out. People don’t want to risk alienation, and thus, avoid taking a stand on politically-tinged issues. | admit I'm guilty of many of these. It’s inexcusable, for myself and the rest of us. This type of tone-deaf attempt at humor is nothing new for Reckless. After all, these are the guys behind beers with names such as “Genocide” and “Nice and Wet Oral Pleasure.” For many, it’s easier to simply roll their eyes and say things like “any publicity is good publicity” or “just ignore them.” This is exactly what's led to people like Hyndman to wallow in avoidable ignorance—left to believe they are honestly doing nothing wrong. In his emailed apology to newsletter subscribers, he even asks “Does being clueless make me racist?” Yes, sometimes it does. When I reached out to him for comment, this is what he had to say in an email: I made a post that I wish I never had. Because of my lack of awareness and difficulty in understanding the way that people feel about things I truly did not expect it to titpsdctybeat.comifood-drnkinal-draughtirckloss-browing-brings-problematic-behavior-o-the-frefon! anoann3i2019 Reckless Brewing brings problematic behavior to the freont - San Diego CiyBeat FOOD & DRINK rie uproar on TacevooK nas been catastropmic: 1 nave no idea how severely this will impact Reckless Brewing but J fear the worst. This is the worst day of my life. Thanks, Dave Brushing off years of bad taste allowed Hyndman to escalate his childish marketing ploys without consequences, leading him to spout some very real and potentially harmful thoughts. Black Lives Matter was created in response to generations of cultivated and systemic inequality that resulted in the world we live in today—one where black men, women and children are stifled, silenced and shot simply for simply existing. When a white man trivializes that movement’s importance under the guise of humor, it’s disgusting. Without repercussions, silence means complicity. And 1 refuse to remain silent. It's time for the “ignore it and it'll go away” fallacy to die a quick and painful death. Ignoring bad behavior doesn't lead to bad behavior fading away over time. The only thing that does go away over time is the outrage over these incidents, which is unfortunate because calling out this type of behavior seems to be the only way to make any sort of difference toward positive change. As a beer journalist, | talk to lots of people in the San Diego beer scene, professional and otherwise. Nearly everyone I speak with touts San Diego as an especially woke segment of the craft beer industry. Perhaps that’s true to a point. But our collective delusions of grandeur is a facade. It allows us to believe that we're the tntpsdctybeat.comifood-drinkfinal-draughtirckloss-browing-brings-problematic-behavior-o-he-frefon! 5110ann3i2019 Reckless Brewing brings problematic behavior to the freont - San Diego CiyBeat FOOD & DRINK people like Dowles, his hopes for redemption extend beyond the tainted brewery. “What I hope this does is open minds and eyes and some real conversation about these topics within the beer community and industry. It's never too late to learn something new and grow.” by Beth Demmon March 7, 2019 5:07 PM Comments (13) Type subject here.. Beth, great job. I think you're really hitting on a serious issue. I'm sure you don't, but don't let the people in the comments undercut your message to the community in this wonderful article. Those who disagree with you or don't see the problem are just as ignorant and uneducated on the matter of how jokes about race can be racist without the proper consideration and understanding of whether such jokes will be in good taste. It's sad to see so many people in the comments lack that comprehension. Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is not an excuse to make seemingly harmless jokes. If everyone undercut efforts to abolish slavery, and attitudes toward it post emancipation proclamation, where would we be today? Quito 38 days ago | reply Two wrongs... Those that know Dave or have visited his brewery would know that he has unwaveringly supported the fight for equality, in all forms. tntpsdctybeat.comifood-drinkfinal-draughtirckloss-browing-brings-problematic-behavior-o-he-frefon! e110ann3i2019 Reckless Brewing brings problematic behavior to the freont - San Diego CilyBeat FOOD & DRINK ungerstanamg mto tne situation: Instead, he was met with rage and alienation, And that's not the path to fixing the ignorance at the heart of issues like this. Shame. Matt 77 days ago | reply Geta life Get. A, Life, Beth, Snowflake 77 days ago | reply Well... I'll be heading to Reckless! I hope the owner doesn't change the name! This is great. It's nice to see someone having some fun and throwing a little humor into BEER. Get a f'n life City Beat. I will 100% be getting a BLM beer later today. Cheers &@ Beth Demmon 77 days ago | reply Identity politics of the snowflake generation It is truly sad that One cannot take a funny re-naming post for what it is, a witty piece of slightly subversive comedy poking fun at a not so constructive politically correct phenomenon, Relax Beth, it was certainly not meant to be nefarious, except maybe to a post modernist radical prone to "moral panic" at the slightest (imaginary) provocation. Rick Forselles 94 days ago | reply Your lack of comprehension I'm not sure you understand BLM and how humor can undercut the efforts made by the Black Lives Matter community. Everyone deserves the opportunity to titpsdctybeat.comifood-arinkinal-draughtirckloss-browing-brings-problematic-behavier-to-the-frefonann3i2019 Reckless Brewing brings problematic behavior to the freont - San Diego CiyBeat FOOD & DRINK ‘or poor vaste, ana tits one was Ir poor vaste. 1 suggest you dig deeper into why, Rick Forselles. Quito 38 days ago | reply Problematic lager? Why do people pretending the care have to ruin everything? Now I can't even get a frosty BLM lager! Serviceinstaller 95 days ago | reply and citybeat nears bankruptcy I'm excited that citybeat has got thinner every year as advertisers fled the rag. Its barely hanging on now. Citybeat has been a wanna be SD Reader that gravitated toward muckracking and yellow journalism. Each issue highlights a problem that Citybeat will not help fix. In this current rant, Citybeat is trying to destroy a small business over a joke. Thankfully Citybeat will go out of print before Reckless Brewing closes its doors. alex 96 days ago | reply sexual innuendo / belching beaver interesting that you decided to quote the owner of a brewery named Belching Beaver in an article calling out tone deafness in the craft beer industry, a brand that built itself on innuendo. k moore 96 days ago | reply #BlackBeerMatters This is all too funny. It is refreshing to see someone not care if they offend. Too much PC. Am I white, male, and privileged? Yup, and guess what? Boo hoo to those who are not. This whole thing is not racist so much as it is simply being offensive for the sake of being offensive. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that. Lee 96 days ago | reply tntpsdctybeat.comifood-drinkfinal-draughtirckloss-browing-brings-problematic-behavior-o-he-frefon! artoann3i2019 Reckless Brewing brings problematic behavior to the freont - San Diego CilyBeat FOOD & DRINK It is especially too bad people with this thought process get to hide behind the anonymity of the internet. We all know they wouldn't have the courage to say it to anyone in person. Inclusive, not exclusive! Dan 77 days ago | reply not the best way... to convince people your belief is valid, dude. Quito 38 days ago | reply Speaking of poor taste and discrimination It's truly rich that anyone from a brewery named "belching beaver" feels they have the moral high ground. Alan Smithee 96 days ago | reply titpsdctybeat.comifood-drinkfinal-draughtirckloss-browing-brings-problematic-behavior-o-he-forefon!ann3i2019 Reckless Brewing brings problematic behavior to the freont - San Diego CilyBeat http: sdekyboat conviood-dinkinal-deaughtrackess-brewing-rings-problematic-behavio-to-te-foretron! sono