I talk directly with MNB co-founder Jonathan
Baker about it.
So I woke up
this morning ready to post my new Cruisin’ For A Brewsin’ video I did with SweetWater Brewing, but
I got a couple calls and texts about Monday
Night Brewing “hosting an event” with the very controversial Georgia Secretary of State and governor candidate Brian Kemp. I thought I should get this out the way before showing y'all how much fun I had at 'Water and end the week on a good note.
Now I try to stay
away from politics when in the beer scene—or pretty much any public atmospheres—because
it can get heated and passions can escalate especially in Georgia. I just know
who I am voting for and want the best for where I live and beyond. We need
things to get better. Period.
Anyway, with
such a history being associated with Monday Night over the years including
posting one of my first blog posts covering their homebrewing events on Mondays
in ATL in 2010 here, hosting my
company’s first Heroes Villains comic art exhibit, documenting their numerous collaborations with Nappy Roots like
this, plus numerous other instances,
the news did concern me. No lie. So before I could reach out to see what the
deal was, I saw this Tweet from Monday
Night that linked to this post on
their site about their "Core Beliefs." It was well written in my opinion. They also objectively included a link to this article by Atlanta Magazine which gave me a better idea of what went down. After I read
both inserts, I texted Monday Night co-founder Jonathan Baker (who I just had
brews with two days ago at their original location to sample the new Piranha
Dealer IPA), and asked him if he wrote the press release. He said he did and
then we continued a lengthy discussion. We talked about what
went down and how we both agreed it was indeed a mistake because they have done
so much to diversify their audience. (Let’s just say Kemp continues to enforce
the impression that racial harmony is not one of his priorities as governor.) With MNB setting up their second location called the Garage in the predominately Black
section of the historic West End, having the aforementioned Nappy Roots partnerships, and
my good friend Mike Jordan’s monthly LIT book
karaoke event alongside his wife Jacinta to name just a few of the instances solidifies what their true mission appears to be as an Atlanta brewing company.
Jonathan
definitely sounded regretful of how things went down and are currently perceived, which
fueled his spirited write up disclosing what the brewery's true ideologies are.
He also mentioned they had an event they were working on with Kemp’s
opposition, Stacey Abrams, prior to the Kemp visit but decided not to include
that in his write up; he kept the focus on their overall values. He also said
this to me:
“We messed up. We didn’t fully think
through our decision to allow the NFIB to endorse Kemp at our facilities, I
completely understand people’s concern. We have been doing some soul searching
as owners and hope to make it up to people through our actions moving forward.”
-
Jonathan
Baker, Co-Founder of Monday Night
So with that,
let’s see how things progress. I trust they will do the right thing. In the
meantime, due to my years of experience with Jonathan and the rest of the Monday
Night crew including everyone from their tap pullers to brewmaster Peter, we
will still have brews together. And maybe leave politics out of it.
Most
importantly, please make sure y’all vote.
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