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Shady Oak Barrel House’s Fuck PG&E beer – Shady Oak Barrel House/Facebook
We recently reported on a Santa Rosa brewery that released a beer named to protest the state utility company’s role in having caused some of California’s most damaging fires.
And the uproar that its beer Fuck PG&E ‘sparked’ was not what we would have expected…
When Shady Oak Barrel House owner Steve Doty announced his newest beer via Facebook last week, he understood that some might object to its name. But he was pissed at the utility company that many blame for some of Northern California’s most destructive fires…Fires that have cost people their lives.
The last thing that owner Steve Doty expected was backlash from employees and family members associated with the utility company that took to Facebook with comments like this…
“Not sure what genius thought this one up. I am a PG&E employee and find this to be very distasteful. There are a lot of beer drinking PG&E workers in the area, myself being one, that as of now will be passing right by your establishment. Hope by the responses you are receiving in this feed you realize what a big mistake this was. Then again maybe not, someone did think this was a good idea to begin with.”
But in his November 10th Facebook response to a growing chorus of criticism…Doty made it clear who he is blaming and that he is not backing down…
I recently released a beer called “Fuck PG&E” and it seems it’s upset some people.
To those that are upset, I apologize and I would like to take a minute to set the record straight. The name was not intended to go after honest hard-working people that have been and still currently ARE helping our community. It is not to undercut or attack those that have been away from their families in order to serve others in times of recent disasters. The name doesn’t suggest anything remotely like this; however, some people chose to read it this way.
The name instead was chosen in some contempt for the corporation itself.
PG&E is in the middle of a trial for negligence that led to the loss of 22 people, 5,643 structures, 1.2 billion in damages, and the burning of 36,000 acres in my hometown alone.
A year later, this same company has been confirmed at fault for the deadliest and most destructive fire in our state’s history. This included the loss of 85 people, 18,000 structures, 16.5 billion in damages, and the burning of over 150,000 acres.
And yet another year later in 2019, they are being looked at again for burning another 77,000 acres, resulting in more damages and the decimation of even more structures.
The after effects of PG&E’s negligence have caused hardships in our area that are not quantifiable with numbers. Many people have PTSD and cannot bear to relive those moments. Many of them have left.
Again, and I want to stress this very clearly, I am very aware that this negligence is NOT the fault of their employees and that those people have been CRUCIAL in the statewide recovery process. We understand it’s not an easy job and in times like this, it’s even harder. We have heard horror stories of people being threatened or assaulted based on their ties to the company and IN NO WAY, do we condone that. It’s disgusting and ridiculous and completely unfounded. We all need to “keep the lights on,” so to speak, and for those that help us do that in the literal sense, THANK YOU.
What I don’t respect and what inspired the name of this beer is how the corporate bigwigs at PG&E chose to line their pockets and ignore their responsibilities in their role that led to the destruction of communities across California. There were obvious decisions could have been made and procedures set in place that could have possibly helped avoid such horrific disasters. And now we’re all paying for it.
Shady Oak is part of a community and city with a diverse customer base. We have doctors, bakers, lawyers, winemakers, janitors, and all walks of people that have become our loyal regulars. We know Fire, Police, and other first responders on a first name basis. We even have some regulars that are employed by PG&E, who understood the beer name’s meaning and found it hilarious.
We are a brewery. We are a company with wonderful employees and wonderful customers in one of the most amazing and resilient places on the planet. We’ve collectively been through a lot here, and a few people inferring that we are attacking our own help only adds to that pain.
Starting today – for any customer that comes into the taproom with an honest Yelp, Google, or Facebook review, we’ll knock $1 off your beer. For any PG&E employee that does the same, we’ll double that. As always, for our first responders, we’ll be taking care of you too.
So, once more, I would like to send a sincere apology to those that misinterpreted the meaning of this beer name. I hope this helped clarify some things for each of you and we can all move forward from here.
Thank you all for taking the time to read this.
Cheers.
