Necromancer Brewing lead brewer Nina Santiago, left, of Brookline, and head brewer Lauren Hughes, of Greenfield, clean after brewing through the morning on Wednesday, July 13, 2022, in Ross. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
An ugly incident has Pittsburgh-area brewers mulling a new code of conduct that would prohibit — and potentially punish — harassment and discrimination in the increasingly diverse sector.
by Matt Petras, PublicSource
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Nina Santiago said she found herself at a crossroads.
She wanted to grow after working in retail management for almost eight years and became tired of disrespectful customers. After learning how to make wine from her wife’s parents and enjoying it, she completed a vocational program to help people break into the brewing industry at Trace Brewing in Bloomfield.
Santiago then went on to work for Necromancer Brewing in Ross. She loves Necromancer and feels respected there. “It definitely changed my life,” Santiago said.
But at a beer festival in May, Santiago alleged an employee of another Pittsburgh brewery harassed her and made homophobic remarks after noticing her T-shirt, which read “Queer AF.” This frustrated her, but it also spurred a new push for a code of conduct now under development by the Pittsburgh Brewers Guild that could improve the environment.
The Pittsburgh Brewers Guild held its regular weekly meeting on July 12 and spent the bulk of the evening discussing how best to implement a guild-wide code of conduct. In a statement later released to PublicSource, Pittsburgh Brewers Guild leaders said they support implementing a code of conduct and believe it would be a natural progression of the guild’s past and current focus on making the local brewery scene attractive.
“As an important next step, we plan to implement and enforce a code of conduct that emphasizes we all benefit when breweries and their team members welcome people of all backgrounds, treat everyone with respect and do business the right way,” the guild wrote in a statement emailed to PublicSource. “Our goal is that these basic expectations — which are typically met day in and day out — will become defining values for every PBG member.”
The guild is forming a subcommittee of its member volunteers to create the code of conduct, beginning immediately.
The national brewing industry is dominated by White men. About 94% of individual owners of breweries are White, and about 76% are male, according to the Brewers Association.
Lauren Hughes, head brewer at Necromancer, who is a gay woman, knows Pittsburgh’s scene to be dominated by White men. She found the guild meeting productive and volunteered to be part of the subcommittee, she said.
“I think it’s definitely in the right direction,” Hughes said. “I was honestly — I think a lot of us were — worried that it wouldn’t get this far. I’m interested to see how it works out.”