Melvin Coming to CO

^^^ did you see the way they changed their ‘contact us’ to ‘touch us’ and the verbiage that followed???

I think its safe to say that that’s indicative of the company mentality about these sorts of issues... Aaaand certainly enough for me to say no thanks. I guess if I didn’t have a girlfriend, mother, niece, aunts, and female friends this might not bother me

 

The fact that they only took action after word began spreading around town illustrates how they handled it: by being quiet and hoping it goes away. They've only begun taking action once it started becoming common knowledge once both traditional and social media got ahold of the story. Those of us in the beer/service industries around here have known about it since it happened. We're a small, tight group in a small city.

 

That contact page was set up like that PRIOR to the incident and changed AFTER. I came across it over a year ago, and, as a survivor of sexual assault, I still found it hilarious. I will be giving Melvin the benefit of the doubt until a formal release is made and will base judgement off of that.

I do think this speaks to more issues than unwanted groping, but I bet all the humanitarians weighing in don't give a fuck about wage inequality, sweat shops, and frequent Wal-Mart on the DL. Why else are there charging stations there?

@beertunes, how would Melvin as a company have heard? You think the perpetrator went in to work the next morning saying how they almost cost another company their liquor license and groped their waitstaff?

 

I think the concern from many (including myself) is that no formal release is forthcoming, or would have been forthcoming if not for the negative attention on social or traditional media platforms. It's also been reported that this was one of the founders, and if that's the case, you would think the company would have known about this pretty early on. A few of the news articles stated that they dealt with this internally, so it's not very clear that they have any plans to address this in the future. I also think that you raise some other important issues. However, I don't see that they necessarily take away from the importance of this issue, or Melvin's response to it.

 

I understand wanting to wait to see how Melvin responds to the incident, but don't you think the response will be in part based on/proportional to public outcry? I think that consumers have a right to discuss these things & spread the word to inform other consumers so that we can let companies know that this sort of shit is not acceptable in the industry. Then the industry can respond to that.

Why the impulse to have people stop talking about it here? Isn't this just part of the embarrassment that you're saying is justified? I'm not calling for a public execution here. People fuck up, i get that and can empathize. I just think that the employee ought to take responsibility and apologize, and that Melvin ought to make it clear that this behavior is totally unacceptable going forward.

I understand that people (myself included) can sound sanctimonious when talking about how to properly handle situations like this, but I firmly believe that public pressure is necessary where sexual harassment occurs to let people know that norms have changed and men can't touch women whenever they want to now.

 

Well, since one of the people involved is the head donkey.......

And, do you not think the folks at the other brewery had an interest in this? They made an active decision to not notify authorities, which let Melvin off the hook a bit, but, when a member of the community that is well-respected around town went through this, you can be sure word spread quickly. Melvin would have been well served to get out ahead of this.

It wasn't the break-in that got Nixon, it was the cover-up.

 

I must have misread that part- my bad. The article or my lack of reading comprehension made it seem like a reaction to the event in question.

Not putting words in anyone’s mouth, but being a survivor thinking its hilarious doesn’t actually apply to anyone else FYI.

 

I find a few things in life humorous that are probably not, that may be one of those things. That being said, I suspect that Beer Advocate won't be the forum where Melvin makes their announcement. I will say that I am not surprised that a company that reps Wu as hard Melvin that something like this inevitably happened. Trump gets he'l for saying what he said, wutang gets a pass. Women across the world are outing their pigs while 50 shades mania runs wild with housewives across America. What does it all mean? Hell if I know, but the paradoxical nature of it all isn' lost on me.

 

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article204380294.html

Actual quotes from Melvin ownership included.

 

So a subcontractor was responsible for putting the rapey stuff on their webby...
okay cool
Bet they are from Wyoming too and definitely not anywhere near Washington.

 

This is a huge bummer... but there is just too much good beer out there to support breweries that cultivate this kind of culture. I've purchased my last Melvin beer for the foreseeable future

 

If ur gonna wear the hat .. play the part !

 

The giveaway is the part where Jeremy Tofte says the person in question is "no longer allowed at public events and getting counseling and rehabilitation". This is what happens when shady companies don't want to fire a powerful or valuable person who sexually harasses or assaults someone, they send them to "counseling" or "rehab". Melvin is clearly trying to sweep this under the rug because the person responsible for it is too high up to fire. I would guess if this were just a "wyoming based brewer" the person would be fired but since it was a co-founder they will be protected.

 

We have issued official statements and apologies in local newspapers, our website and our facebook page. This is a beer forum, so we didn't feel it was the proper venue for this discussion, but we consider you all our community and you obviously have a lot of legitimate concerns, so we'll try to address them all and this is the last time we will talk about it here.
One of our team members made mistakes, we settled it appropriately and privately with the brewery where it occurred, and we issued an official apology to them months ago. Then the incident became public knowledge last week and we immediately made official apologies online. We noted that the employee was from Wyoming because our Bellingham crew was being blamed, and we got said employee voluntary counseling. We believe in getting people help and giving them second chances. We also implemented sexual harassment training for our entire staff.
The offensive wording on our website was another mistake, made over a year ago. It was made by a subcontracted web designer and we were guilty of not enough oversight. We have since stopped working with this contractor. We take sexual abuse and harassment very seriously, and we will be vigilant in making sure mistakes like these never happen again. We will continue to try and be the best communitry members we can be while bringing people the best beer possible.
Sincerely
Melvin Brewing Team

 

I personally don't think someone should be fired and their life ruined because they grabbed someone's butt. I'm not saying it was fine or appropriate behavior.

 

He hasn't been fired, and his life hasn't been ruined. I don't think there are that many people who want that. America, after all, is a very forgiving nation. As long as people learn, and grow, folks are willing to let go of things. But, it takes time.

 

Oh, I know he hasn't. I'm just saying that a lot of people seem to think that's the only solution.

EDIT: Read what Melvin wrote. You might not agree with what they say, but at least that's the situation instead of hearsay and conjecture.

 

You should be fired if you grab an employees ass unwillingly. You think that's okay to do in any industry or work setting? What world do you people live in?

 

A world that includes Hooters. More paradox.

 

https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/11-craft-beer-labels-that-are-going-straight-to-hell/