In the Wake of Worst Beer Blog's demise...
We all can do better.
For the past few years, Worst Beer Blog has been hard at work pointing out the hypocrisy and blatant disregard for decency that runs rampant in the undercurrent of the craft brewing world. Abruptly, yesterday, Worst Beer Blog called it quits and deleted every instance from all social media.
While many of us knew it was a possibility, the sudden nature caught everyone off guard. So where does that leave us?
It shouldn’t have taken a meme account to point out beer-related things that are racist, sexist or just downright shitty, Worst Beer Blog held our industry accountable and for that we can thank them. Going forward, it’s on us to self regulate. Let’s all commit to holding ourselves and our local breweries to a higher standard—both in beer quality and our industry’s outward appearance to the rest of society.
Here’s some tips in case it isn’t already glaringly obvious:
If you’re about to name a beer and your 11 year old self would chuckle at the name, but never repeat it in front of your mother, pick a different name.
If you’re resorting to using expletive-laced hashtags and repeatedly downloading Drunken Cowboy font from DaFont, maybe hire a local starving artist instead. I can guarantee there is underutilized talent in your local community that can help make your brewery stand out in a better way.
It shouldn’t be hard. If you couldn’t tell your Grandma the name or the meaning behind a beer name, then move on.
If your success depends on putting down a marginalized part of society or has hidden meaning that could embarrass your brewery to the point of shutting down, just don’t do it.
Let us use what we’ve learned from doom-scrolling Worst Beer Blog to make our industry a better, more inclusive space.
And if you see a brewery doing something shitty, say something—Worst Beer Blog isn’t here to say it for us any longer. Stepping down off our soapbox.
