Melvin Brewing Reflects, Melvin Brewing Apologizes

Dear Friends, Former Friends, and Skeptics at Large,

At Melvin, we are bound by the honest sword and we want to give you nothing but the facts.

In the spirit of full disclosure: Two incidents occurred in 2017 that we find to be totally inexcusable. In November, a then-Melvin brewer, Kirk Mchale, was out one evening getting drinks at another establishment, and “while [the server] was addressing guests at Kirk’s table, Kirk put his hand around her waist, then moved his hand lower and touched her butt and upper thigh area.” You can find our full account and statement here.

The second incident, completely unrelated to the prior, was copy on the “Contact” page of our Melvin Brewing website that went way over the line. Instead of our webpage reading “Contact Us,” it read, “Touch Us” and within the “Touch Us” contact page, we wrote, “Show us on the doll where Melvin touched you.” The copy was old, and our poor attempt at being funny — we should have been paying closer attention to what was on our own site, and ensuring everyone who represents Melvin understands the difference between being funny and being hurtful.

Neither of these incidents represent who we are or what we stand for, and we have since parted ways with the individuals involved.

Both of these unrelated situations have caused us to take stock of who we are, what we believe in, and most importantly, how we can change for the better. We take full responsibility for the damage these incidents have caused, and admit that we screwed up in our initial attempts at responding. We sincerely apologize to those most hurt by these events, and we deeply regret the toll this has taken on our Bellingham community.

The Melvin crew is committed to transparency and honesty, even when it reveals the ways we have fallen short. Our team wants nothing more than to learn from these missteps. Melvin instituted a sexual harassment training program, hired a human resources department, and our management teams are receiving culture and leadership training from an outside organization. Since our inception in 2009, bringing people together for exceptional beer, kick-ass events, and the love of craft beer has been our number one priority, and our commitment to growing our community is unwavering. We are looking to the future by putting plans in place to strengthen our roots, and help others embrace their own possibilities, whatever they may be. We hope you’ll join us.

Jeremy Tofte, Founder