(4 of 4) 18th Street's Sex and Candy: "Your Sexism is Predictable and Boring, 18th Street Brewery."

This is where it comes full circle, with three posts at the MetaCookBook blog. These are self-explanatory, and more incisive than I ever could be. Read them.

My aim at present is to offer the background, not a  deep examination of my own viewpoint on this topic, though to read here and here is to understand where I come down.

My hesitance to leap into this fray owes not to timidity, but doubts about my relevance. I've been out of the loop, and I'm still adjusting from being someone in the brewery game to being outside it, now just a regular consumer like everyone else. It can be disorienting.

I'll have something to say, but not yet. First: Read these blog posts.

Your Sexism is Predictable and Boring, 18th Street Brewery.

My friend Lakeline just watched a brewery she liked take a critique of a sexually objectifying label they have very poorly. She had some words on it, and I offered to share those words here. I have my own thoughts on the topic, but I haven’t been able to put them down yet. For now, know I agree with every word she’s written below. — Natasha

Then ...

No, Seriously. 18th Street Brewery’s Response Was Utterly Predictable.

The most recent post on this blog is a guest post regarding 18th Street Brewery’s sexism. As the guest didn’t have a title, I titled it, “Your Sexism is Predictable and Boring, 18th Street Brewery.” And this is my take on the matter: 18th Street Brewery’s sexist response was utterly predictable.

Drew Fox (the founder & head brewer of 18th Street Brewery) has shown us before what he thinks of women. He’ll tell a woman raising concerns about the industry to “back the fuck off” and engage in policing what women and girls wear to try to derail the conversation at hand.

Then ...

Further Reading: Some Links on Sexism and Beer

One of my goals for blogging is to have an interesting link post every Monday morning. I didn’t manage that this past Monday because my day was spent really writing and polishing my post on beer and predictable sexism. It’s one of my best posts, I think, and very important.

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(3 of 4) 18th Street's Sex and Candy, and wondering, "What ... the Brewers Association (Is) Doing to Address Gender and Race?"

The heated discussion about 18th Street's Sex and Candy dovetailed with a blogger's account of chats about gender and race in "craft" brewing at the recently concluded Craft Brewers Conference.

What is the Brewers Association's position, and by extension, is this something appropriate for consideration by state guilds?

You probably already know my answer to the latter question. I think it is.

wordpress.com/2016/05/09/what-is-the-brewers-association-doing-to-address-gender-and-race/">What Is the Brewers Association Doing to Address Gender and Race?

(By Bryan Roth, at This Is Why I'm Drunk)

 ... Some context before we get to the #longread.

The last few weeks have been ripe for discussion. Last month, one brewer’s Facebook rant on sexism went viral, and rightfully so. Last week, a Twitter argument erupted over a questionable beer label, and rightfully so. Hell, this year’s James Beard Award for Journalism went to a story about the lack of minorities in the beer industry.

It’s not hard to find labels that could easily be found as offensive.

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(2 of 4) 18th Street's Sex and Candy, and how the "Twitter Fight Over Racy Indiana Beer Label Highlights Industry Sexism Concerns."

From the article/18th Street website.

This article explains how the exchange between public and brewery over the Sex and Candy label became, shall we say, heated.

Twitter Fight Over Racy Indiana Beer Label Highlights Industry Sexism Concerns, by Anthony Todd (Chicagoist)

There's a minor firestorm brewing on Twitter in the craft beer community, and it's about an old favorite topic of ours: Sexism in the beer world. We've seen plenty of potentially sex-laden beer labels, and you can add this one to the list: 18th Street Brewery's Sex and Candy. The brewer is also responsible for such beer names as "Bitches' Bank," "Bitter Bitch Pale Ale" and "Bitch Hands," so.

The label for Sex and Candy features a women's panties, emblazoned with the beer's name, and a pair of crossed thighs. Some might object, some might say it's all in good fun. At least one beer lover, however, registered her disappointment with it on Twitter.

OK. Social Media 101 says that if your brand gets attacked on Twitter, you have two choices: Ignore it or use it as an engagement opportunity. Unfortunately, 18th Street took the less-recommended third choice: attack the complainer.

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(1 of 4) 18th Street's Sex and Candy, but first, the story of 18th Street Brewery.

My next few posts are going to be about the 18th Street Brewery, which came into existence a few short years ago in Gary, quickly exploded, and now has opened a production facility in Hammond.

Hardcore beer geeks already know about 18th Street and its founder/brewer, Drew Fox. More casual observers may not be familiar with the brewery, and this isn't unexpected considering the 120+ breweries currently operating in Indiana.

I've neither met Drew Fox nor visited his brewery's locations. I can attest to the quality of those 18th Street beers I've tasted.

What recently brought 18th Street Brewery into the spotlight wasn't its beer, but what some have perceived as sexism, as manifested by the label for Sex and Candy.

The backstory is, I saw the cans at Whole Foods, snapped a pic and sent it to Carla. She questioned the brewery. They stood by the label and called her a piece of garbage and a troll while doubling down with their social imaging. I've asked Whole Foods to consider moving the display to an interior shelf where kids might be less prone to asking what it is.

First, the brewery's story.

18th Street Brewery: Our Story

Sometimes things happen for a reason. Starting to feel burnt out from the wear and tear of the hospitality game, Drew Fox took a trip to Belgium. The hostel he was staying at had a phenomanal wheat beer with which he fell in love. Upon returning to Chicago, Drew found it difficult to get beers that sparked that same feeling he had in Europe. It was around this time that Blue Moon started circulating and it- along with Chicago's Half Acre, started to put Drew's wheels in motion ...

... In 2012 a Kickstarter campaign was begun to get money to open a brewery and taproom for 18th Street Brewery to call their own. The campaign was well recieved and exceeeded its initial goal. In the midst of brewing and bottling six different beers, 18th was able to find a home in the Miller Beach community of Gary, Indiana.

A very detailed brewery profile at Good Beer Hunting: GBH HYPE — 18th Street Brewery Secures an Independent Future in NW Indiana.

18th Street Brewery, lead by entrepreneur and brewer, Drew Fox, has earned local and international standing as a start-up in Gary, Indiana. Initially built through crowd funding on Kickstarter, the brewery has gone on to win “Best New Brewery in Indiana” from Ratebeer.com, collaborated with some of the world’s most creative brewers, and appealed to a local audience that stretches from downstate Indiana, to Chicago and the NW Indiana corridor, and audiences as far away as Denmark. Now, Fox and his team have found themselves on the verge of an incredible new chapter in the future of the business.

The new Hammond brewery opened in February, 2016.

18th Street Brewery opens Hammond brewpub Saturday, by Joseph S. Pete (NWI Times)

On Saturday, 18th Street Brewery will become Northwest Indiana’s first craft brewery to open a second brewpub.

The award-winning craft brewery, which was named the best newcomer in the state by RateBeer when it opened in Gary’s Miller neighborhood in late 2013, is now opening a new brewpub and production facility at 5417 Oakley Ave., in downtown Hammond.

18th Street is moving its brewing operations to the much larger former furniture store warehouse in Hammond, but will keep its Miller brewpub open. In the larger space, 18th Street will now be able to expand its distribution throughout Northwest Indiana and the rest of the state, including in South Bend and Elkhart.

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Sadly, Three Pints Brewing Company has closed.

I wrote these words when Cutters Brewing Company ceased operations last March.

In any quasi-free market (whatever that means), there'll always be an attrition rate, and for a wide and staggering number of reasons ... I'm intimately familiar with this reality: "A tightrope of location, distribution, marketing and operations must be walked." You say that production scale and distribution will be the answer? Maybe it will, but .... the death of a brewery is a death in the family.

These sentiments come back to me as Tom Hynes of Three Pints offers this classy send-off, which I reprint here in its entirety, drawing from it one crucial point:

"For breweries where distribution is a key part of their business model, the increased competition has been tough."

Ominous.

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Three Pints Brewing Co. - Martinsville

January 18th, 2016

It with with much sadness that I announce the closure of Three Pints Brewing Company, effective immediately.

It has been a great run, starting in 2010 when we opened the brewpub in Plainfield, to the opening of our production brewery in Martinsville in 2014. As you know, the craft brewing industry has boomed during this time, with many new breweries opening and many exceptional beers being brewed, especially in Indiana. This is great news for all of us craft beer lovers! In general it is also great news for our industry, as it has raised the public's awareness of craft beer, chipping away at the mega-brewery market share. But for breweries where distribution is a key part of their business model, the increased competition has been tough.

Although this is a sad day, I have a lot to be thankful for.

First and foremost I want to thank all of the incredibleThree Pints fans in Plainfield, Martinsville, and across the state who supported us, inspired us, and most of all, became lifelong friends. I am honored and humbled by your tireless advocacy, and will treasure the many memories. THANK YOU!

I also want to thank the city and the people of Martinsville for the warmest welcome and continued support a business could ever ask for. I've made plenty of mistakes in this business, but choosing Martinsville when we expanded was not one of them.

Finally, I want to thank all of the wonderful, hardworking, and loyal employees I've had the privilege to work with over these years. I will miss your daily humor and companionship.

It's been a fun and rewarding ride, and I truly feel blessed to have been part of Indiana's craft beer community. Drink Indiana!

Cheers,
Tom Hynes
Owner, Head Brewer
Three Pints Brewing, Co.

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Riverfront permits, carry-out growlers and Roger's status as lightning rod for esoteric regulatorydom.

Is anyone noticing a pattern?

2013: The Floyd County Health Department decides temporary food permits should apply to draft beer pours, and is proven mistaken.

PourGate 2013: It took two years, but this new law silences Dr. Tom Harris and the Floyd County Health Department.

2014: Indiana's requirement for weenies in the freezer (food service requirement) comes under scrutiny, and is amended.

Another legislative win: Effective July 1, revised food requirements for Indiana brewery taprooms.

2015: Decades later, Indiana's riverfront development three-way permits suddenly become incompatible with carry-out sales from small breweries.

No wonder they want to be rid of me.

Bangert: Hidden law mean goodbye to LBC growlers?, by Dave Bangert (Lafayette Journal & Courier)

And then one day, just like that, Greg Emig found out his Lafayette Brewing Co. wasn’t supposed to be filling 64-ounce growlers for carryout of Eighty-Five, Star City Lager or any of the other fresh beer produced at the brew pub on Main Street.

Last fall, word started getting around among the Brewers of Indiana Guild that there was a glitch in state law that forbids carryout of any alcohol under special liquor licenses set up in economic development zones.

And now, after years of being tucked away in Indiana Code, the law was being enforced by the state’s Alcohol and Tobacco Commission ...

 ... The story started in October, about the time of Harvest Homecoming festival in the southern Indiana city of New Albany.

Profuse public thanks go to Senator Ron Alting and Representative Ed Clere for their diligent efforts to make necessary repairs to these and other strange statutory divergences. After all, the ATC doesn't write these laws; it merely enforces them.

The riverfront three-way permits referenced here obviously were not intended to be incompatible with small brewing in Indiana; it's all about the wording, and the likelihood is that the words will be fixed during the coming legislative session.

As always, stay tuned.

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Another legislative win: Effective July 1, revised food requirements for Indiana brewery taprooms.

Previously, we took a look at the resolution of one long-running annoyance ...

May 20, 2015: PourGate 2013: took two years, but this new law silences Dr. Tom Harris and the Floyd County Health Department.

 ... and now, on to another. The background is here.

September 10, 2014: ON THE AVENUES: Law-abiding by weenie was never this viral.

With all due credit to Rep. Ed Clere and the lobbying effort put forth by the Brewers of Indiana Guild, there'll be a common-sense change to the law requiring Indiana brewery taprooms to furnish food -- those dreaded frozen weenie sandwiches. It takes effect on July 1.

Here is the exact wording.

HOUSE ENROLLED ACT No. 1311

AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning alcohol and tobacco.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana:

SECTION 1. IC 7.1-3-2-7, AS AMENDED BY SEA 297-2015, SECTION 2, IS AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2015]: Sec. 7. The holder of a brewer's permit or an out-of-state brewer holding either a primary source of supply permit or an out-of-state brewer's permit may do the following …

… (5)(G) Sell the brewery's beer by the glass for consumption on the premises. Brewers permitted to sell beer by the glass under this clause must furnish the minimum food requirements prescribed by the commission. make food available for consumption on the premises. A brewer may comply with the requirements of this clause by doing any of the following:

(i) Allowing a vehicle of transportation that is a food establishment (as defined in IC 16-18-2-137) to serve food near the brewer's licensed premises.

(ii) Placing menus in the brewer's premises of restaurants that will deliver food to the brewery.

(iii) Providing food prepared at the brewery.

Food trucks and delivery menus. That's fair, isn't it? Now that Earth Friends Cafe is housed at Bank Street Brewhouse, the point is moot for NABC -- but I didn't urge a solution for us alone. It's about the collective.

Also, there always was a fundamental difference between these two issues.

Ironically, the food requirement is about the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission, an Indiana brewer's central governing authority. I respect the ATC and its role, and have tried to organize my professional life accordingly.

Meanwhile, the health department's insolent insistence that it could conjure administratively what couldn't be found in statute was something that needed to be fought hard, and was.

The health department wants beer to be under its domain as food?

Then change the law, but don't wave the magic revenue enhancement wand and expect me to buy it.

Tiring fighting these battles ... but necessary.