Posted May 2021
In the past week, we along with thousands of people have stood witness to a watershed of personal stories that expose a pervasive core of misogyny and gender misconduct throughout the brewing industry. The stories, when taken as one thread, shed harsh light on the dark corners of not only our workplaces, but also on our own association, Master Brewers.
As leadership, we were deeply troubled to learn of an abhorrent event that occurred at one of our two week brewing courses. We continue to see additional posts that point to Master Brewers events and membership activity that do not reflect our vision of 'United We Brew'—and we are committed to improving. There is unanimous support in the Master Brewers Executive Committee to take swift and meaningful actions to address our shortcomings in providing a safe environment, whether online or at in-person events at both a national and district level.
We at the Master Brewers want to make it clear that we condemn any act of assault, harassment, violence, bigotry, discrimination, or inequity.
Realizing our shared vision of a safe, inclusive, and equitable community will require a long-term, industry-wide effort, which the Master Brewers is prepared to lead.
We acknowledge that we cannot and should not do this alone. The Master Brewers Association of the Americas (MBAA), the American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC), the Craft Beer HR Professionals Group (CBHR), the Brewers Association (BA), and the Pink Boots Society (PBS) have committed to forming a coalition to explore how our organizations can collaborate to provide the resources and support that businesses and individuals in the brewing industry need to create and maintain a culture of safety, inclusion, and equity.
Within Master Brewers and with a strategic initiative to address an overall lack of diversity in our industry, in early 2020 we formed a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force made up of members from breweries and allied businesses from across North America. The Task Force is working with Ren Navarro of Beer.Diversity both in the planning and implementation of its Action Plan which is currently under review of leadership.
The DEI Action Plan (through 2022) focuses on:
- Evaluating and providing organizational solutions across governance, events and communications within Master Brewers
- Providing DEI tools to Master Brewers members across a range of platforms
- Building membership through a DEI lens
- Cooperating and collaborating with allies in the brewing industry
In the first focus area addressing the Master Brewers itself, the Task Force has committed to a DEI-based evaluation of:
As part of this work, we commit to improving our reporting system for misconduct at Master Brewers related events so that it is easily accessible, trustworthy, dependable and safe. While we are implementing a better reporting system, please reach out to Susan Kohn at
reporting@mbaa.com for more information about how to report incidents of misconduct to Master Brewers.
We commit to reporting on our work and progress against our goals, with regularity and transparency.
John Mallett
President
Master Brewers Association of the Americas
