Bhramari Lays off 25+ Employees and Shuts Down Taproom 6 Months After Opening
Asheville, North Carolina-based Bhramari Brewing Co. has allegedly laid off numerous staff members and temporarily shut down one of its two taprooms this month, Citizen Times reported.
Bhramari’s owner and chef Josh Dillard confirmed to Citizen Times yesterday that the brewery’s Charlotte taproom – which held its grand opening in August – has shut down and will remain closed for a month. The company’s Asheville taproom is still open.
Bhramari has also reportedly closed its kitchen at its Asheville location. The Asheville kitchen, which also operates ghost kitchen Shere Khan Kati Rolls, was reportedly removed from takeout websites on January 15, Citizen Times reported. While the company is typically consistent on its social channels, posting on its Facebook page nearly every day – often multiple times a day, and usually featuring food items – the brewery has not posted since January 13.
Additionally, Logan Benson – a Bhramari Brewing employee who had only recently joined the company – has claimed that he and 25 other employees were laid off “with no notice.” Benson posted the news on LinkedIn today, noting that he had “packed up [his] life” five weeks ago and “left a stable job at Kings Brewing Co.” in California to join Bhramari.
Dillard reportedly has not given a reason for the closure or layoffs, but told Citizen Times he hopes the affected employees will return to the company in the future.
Bhramari’s Charlotte location has seen a handful of brewery tenants come and go in recent years, including Sunstead Brewing and the Salty Parrot, Axios Charlotte reported. Bhramari took over the space from Salty Parrot, which closed in December 2021, less than two years after opening.
In early 2022, a former Bhramari employee posted anonymously on social media, alleging incidents of harassment by one of the Bhramari owners, and the creation of a toxic work environment. The employee said they had brought their concerns to HR, but they were ignored as the accused owner’s wife worked in the department, Axios reported.
Bharmari issued an apology in a now-unavailable statement on its website saying they “have listened and are working to implement changes based on those concerns and other employee feedback.” The company reportedly hired a new HR representative and added new leadership training mandates as a result.
Bharmari – founded in 2015 as HiveMind Brewhouse – produced an estimated 2,600 barrels in beer in 2021, a +10% increase year-over-year (YoY) after reported declines in 2020 (-17%) and 2019 (-2%), according to the Brewers Association (BA).
Southern Star Faces Harassment and Threats After Canceling ‘Rally Against Censorship’
Southern Star Brewing Co. faced online harassment and threats after pulling out of a Rally Against Censorship event the Controe, Texas-based brewery was scheduled to host January 26, The Texas Tribune reported.
Southern Star announced Friday that it would no longer host the event, which was set to have multiple speakers, including Kyle Rittenhouse, a now 20-year old from Antioch, Illinois, who fatally shot two men and wounded another at a 2020 racial justice protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse was acquitted of charges in 2021, and is now a popular conservative figurehead against censorship and gun control.
“No more,” Southern wrote on Twitter. “Southern Star Brewery is an apolitical organization, but we feel that this event doesn’t reflect our own values and we could not in good faith continue to rent out space for the event on 1/26. We don’t do rallies, we make beer for people who like beer.”
Since the announcement, Southern Star has been hit with numerous threats online, including about 50 anonymous messages an hour on its Squarespace account, Southern Star CEO Dave Fougeron told Newsweek. The messages allegedly include name-calling and threats of bodily harm and property damage.
“Since then, the rally organizers have fueled the fire by spreading lies and derogatory statements about us and our company,” Fougeron told Newsweek. “I find it highly ironic that a so-called free speech organization is trying to cancel us from exercising our rights to free speech.
“We have not canceled any of our other events and do not plan to unless there is a credible threat,” he continued. “We are a small business and we do not plan to shrink from what we perceive as simply bullying threats.”
Fougeron has denied claims that the brewery was pressured to cancel the event from a “woke mob,” and said the decision was a “business decision based on our paying customers’ concerns.” Fougeron allegedly was not aware of Rittenhouse’s involvement in the event until a few days ago, and added that any future communication with Rittenhouse or event organizers will be “through legal channels.”
“Our place is super inclusive,” Fougeron told the Texas Tribune Saturday. “We are super pro-veteran, super pro-law enforcement. We’re trying to be good people in the community. We’re friends with our firefighters, with our police department. … We have a lot of gay patrons who come in because it’s a place of inclusivity. It’s crazy that we’re getting threats from people.”
While Fougeron has said the situation has been a “shitstorm,” he told the Texas Tribune he is “more certain than ever that I made the right decision.”
The Rally Against Censorship event will now be held at Lone Star Convention & Expo Center in Conroe, Rittenhouse announced on Twitter early this morning.
“Southern Star Brewery may have cancelled, but we are still going to make this event happen!” Rittenhouse wrote. “I’m a proud supporter of the [F]irst [A]mendment and I will use my voice for good and won’t stop.”
Another event featuring Rittenhouse – scheduled for today at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas – was also canceled this week, with the Grand Canal Shoppes saying the event, sponsored by the National Association of Gun Rights, did not “align with our property’s core event guidelines,” Newsweek reported.
Creature Comforts Workers Announce Plans to form Brewing Union of Georgia
Workers at Athens, Georgia-headquartered Creature Comforts Brewing have organized to form the Brewing Union of Georgia (BUG), they announced during an event last week, according to University of Georgia campus newspaper the Red and Black.
Organizers have filed a petition bearing a majority of employees’ signatures with the National Labor Relations Board that will enable them to have an election to formalize the union, according to the Flagpole.
BUG, an independent union not connected to any other labor organizations, aims to spread Creature Comforts’ typically “positive workplace culture and core values” to other Georgia breweries, marketing manager and organizer Katie Britton told the Red and Black.
Organizers submitted a letter of intent to co-founder and CEO Chris Herron last week, who said the company would consider recognizing the union, the Flagpole reported.
After a period of rapid expansion that saw Creature Comforts’ output nearly triple since 2017, employees felt the company “didn’t have the proper infrastructure in place to support that growth,” an unnamed BUG member told the Flagpole.
Creature Comforts is the 41st largest craft brewery in the country by volume, according to the Brewers Association (BA). In 2021, it produced 63,381 barrels of beer, according to the BA’s May/June issue of the New Brewer.
In addition to adding new markets in the South, Creature Comforts has been working on a taproom and brewery in Los Angeles since 2020.
Russian River Begins Distributing to Seattle After a Decade Away
Russian River has resumed distributing in Seattle, Washington, the Santa Rosa and Windsor, California-headquartered craft brewery announced last week.
“After a long 10-year absence, we are thrilled to announce our enthusiastic return to Seattle, WA,” Russian River wrote on Instagram. “Feeling superstitious, we waited to make this important announcement until after the truck pulled away from our loading dock a few hours ago.”
Stoup Distro, the distribution arm that Seattle-based Stoup Brewing spun off in spring 2022, will sell Russian River’s portfolio in the Seattle market. Russian River listed 32 on- and off-premise retailers set to carry its offerings.
Beers launching in Seattle include flagship Pliny the Elder, Blind Pig, Happy Hops, STS Pils, Supplication and Damnation.
Russia River distributes statewide in California, Colorado and Oregon, as well as to the Reno, Nevada, and Philadelphia markets. The brewery also ships directly to consumers within California.
Oregon Brewers Festival Canceled
Organizers of the Oregon Brewers Festival (OBF) have canceled this year’s event, originally planned for July.
“After three decades of producing OBF, we’ve developed a solid understanding of what it takes to give our attendees a great festival,” organizers wrote in a statement on the OBF website. “And it’s clear when those factors aren’t coming together for a successful event. Higher costs, lower attendance, and extreme weather are just a few of the challenges that we’ve been discussing – but that’s far from an exhaustive list.”
The event returned in 2022 after a two-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic. OBF was founded in 1988 “as an opportunity to expose the public to microbrews at a time when the craft brewing industry was just getting off the ground,” according to the event’s website.
Organizers Art Larrance, Teddy Peetz and Alissa Larrance said the OBF could return in the future, “when the time is right,” but acknowledged that the local hospitality industry “is still working to recover from the effects of the pandemic.”
“From local breweries to the suppliers of our festival infrastructure, many folks are just working to keep their doors open and their employees paid,” they wrote.
Last year, 43 Oregon breweries and cideries participated in the festival.