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Kendra Penland charged with fraud and embezzlement
The beer biz never sleeps at American Craft Beer. And here’s more of what’s been happening in the beer world while you were drinking your way through a wintery weekend.
Ex-Asheville Brewers Alliance Director Charged With Fraud And Embezzlement (Asheville, NC) – Kendra Penland Turner, the former executive director for the Asheville Brewers Alliance has been charged with embezzlement and financial card fraud according to the Citizen Times.
Turner, who is better known in the community as Kendra Penland, is a 42 year old North Carolina native with more than 20 years of experience in communications and public relations. She began working at the Asheville Brewers Alliance in November of 2015.
According to the Mountain Xpress, Penland was in many ways “the face of the area’s brewing community, with a strong media presence and frequent appearances at local beer events.” She suddenly resigned from the organization last July with Mike Rangel, one of the organization’s founders and president of Asheville Brewing, temporarily taking her place.
It’s unclear how much Penland is accused of defrauding. Financial card fraud is a felony charge once the value reaches $500 and embezzlement is always a felony in North Carolina.
Words To Drink By (Asheville, NC) – “We can not comment on personnel issues.” Mike Rangel, Asheville Brewers Alliance and Asheville Brewing
Brewdog’s James Watt
BrewDog’s Brexit Woes (Aberdeen, Scotland) – The UK’s largest craft brewer, BrewDog, which currently sells beer in 60 countries and owns more than 40 bars in the United Kingdom and 20 international outposts, (with more planned to open in 2019), is worried about Brexit’s possible impact on the company.
BrewDog co-Founder James Watt told Bloomberg that his company sells more than a third of its volume in mainland Europe. And he explained that he “worries the sudden imposition of tariffs and duties, not to mention customs delays, could spur supermarkets and bars to reconsider whether to carry its products.”
The fallout from the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, or Brexit as it’s become more commonly known, has generated concerns of several possible aftereffects for UK brewers and left them with a future that’s largely unknown… “So much of the beer we make here ends up in France and Germany and Spain and Italy, so for us that would be doomsday,” Watt added.
Kendra Penland image credit:Asheville Brewers Alliance
