Thursday, October 24, 2019

West Allis bar is giving away Founders beer in protest of the brewery, which is facing discrimination charges

From JSOnline:

, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Drunk Uncle holds a protest against Founders Brewing (Photo: Neal Steffek of The Drunk Uncle)

Neal Steffek, who owns The Drunk Uncle, a beer bar in West Allis, plans to cut ties with controversial Founders Brewing by giving away free pints of Founders' Underground Mountain Brown starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday until the keg is emptied.
By the time the bar opened at 3 p.m., Steffek had already dumped all of his can inventory of the brewery's All Day IPA. 
"You gotta do what you gotta do," Steffek said. "Founders screwed up pretty big, and I can't be associated with that."
Steffek said he just wants the remaining beer — a bourbon-barrel-aged Imperial brown ale made with Sumatra coffee — gone from The Drunk Uncle, 1902 S. 68th St. 
Founders Brewing, Michigan's largest brewery, is facing criticism over a leaked transcript of a deposition in a racial discrimination lawsuit against the Grand Rapids-based brewery.
Tracy Evans, a fired events and promotions manager at Founders' Detroit taproom, filed the racial discrimination and retaliation lawsuit in August 2018 alleging that Founders tolerated a racist corporate culture; that multiple employees used a racial slur in conversations with Evans, who is black; and that office printers were labeled in a racist fashion, the Detroit Free Press reported.
In the deposition, the general manager of the brewery's Detroit taproom wouldn't acknowledge the plaintiff's race, according to the Free Press.
"I can't have what they're doing affect me," Steffek said.
Contact Kathy at (414) 224-2974 or kathy.flanigan@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @katflanigan. 
From: https://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/beer/2019/10/23/theyre-giving-away-founders-beer-protest-drunk-uncle-west-allis/4076708002/

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