Mikkeller Brewery’s very public fall from grace started unfortunate on one Instagram account belonging to a woman named Brienne Allan.
May in Massachusetts
Allan, a production manager at Notch Brewing in Salem, Massachusetts – who goes by the name ‘steering wheel magnet’ on Instagram – asked a simple question in his stories on May 11: “Had other people in the brewing industry experienced sexism?”
After attracting media attention from all over the states, the response was huge. It involved people from big names on the American craft beer scene like Hill Farmstead, Tired Hands and Evil Genius – just to name a few.
“It opened the locks,” Allan says.
Danish heads on the block
The craft beer industry is close together. It did not take long before the international responses began to pour in. And a few Danish names appeared… a lot.
Especially Søren Wagners – the founder and manager of the Danish brewery Dry & Bitter in Gørløse in North Zealand. ONE series of allegations of sexual harassment Describing his aggressive and compulsive behavior, shared by Allan, led to his resignation just a week later.
The case was investigated and verified. Dry & Bitter made a quick public apology, communicated openly and issued several follow-ups. Although there is rarely a satisfactory solution in these cases, D&B put in the legwork.
But that has not been the case with the other Danish name that Allan’s call dug up.
Meanwhile… in Copenhagen
Enter Fanny Wandel – bartender at The Barking Dog in Nørrebro (which as a side note was recently listed as one of the world’s top 10 tequila bars).
Wandel noticed Søren’s name on the stories of the rat magnet. She also noted that Mikkeller Brewery got a lot of airtime. She reposted the anonymous postings regarding the Copenhagen beer scene.
Wandel’s site quickly became a platform, just as Allans had been, for people to surely share stories of toxic workplace culture in the brewery and the broader hospitality industry in Copenhagen.
“It started with me just borrowing my own voice and sharing my own life experiences. Maybe because it makes these things less abstract and easier to relate to, ”she explained.
Victims of Warpigs
The criticism of Mikkeller, which Wandel helped to share, was broad and deep – ranging from bullying, harassment and intimidation to a desperate lack of HR infrastructure and physically unsafe brewing conditions.
“It was about facilitating an open conversation where people could maintain anonymity, which it has largely done,” she said.
At Warpigs – a Mikkeller brewpub in the Meatpacking District run jointly by Indiana’s 3 Floyds Brewing – allegations surfaced that founder and creative director Mikkel Borg Bjergsø and COO Jacob Gram Alsing (aka ‘The Major’) not only participated in the bullying of staff, but let it continue elsewhere.
On June 1, the general manager of Warpigs was quietly replaced without any explanation from Mikkeller HQ. The next day, Berlingske reported on the burgeoning international #MeToo movement in craft beer, and drew attention to the change at Warpigs.
Mikkeller’s mask slides
At this point, Mikkeller began climbing on social media, sending out a statement of “harassment and inequality in the beer industry” to Mikkeller-affiliated groups.
It was a faint gesture and intimidated the members of the ‘Mikkeller Beer Club’ – a dedicated community of Mikkeller supporters, who began to cancel their beer can orders en masse.
Less than fourteen days later, anonymous protest art was installed outside Mikkeller’s headquarters in Carlsberg City. The posters – which parodies Mikkeller’s artwork with messages such as “Racism: Get Away With it Ale” and “Super Cool Sexist Beer” – was taken down within six hours.
By mid-June, Mikkeller had been conspicuously quiet for too long. Meanwhile, Wandel’s Instagram, which had documented every detail of the unfolding controversy, went viral in the hospitality industry.
Bombing in the radio
On June 17, DR’s ears popped up and Mikkeller CEO Kenneth Madsen and Wandel were invited to give a joint radio interview.
While Wandel clearly pointed to the pattern in the accusations against Mikkeller, Madsen was evasive – repeatedly shifting the blame onto the industry, igniting a backlash of criticism of his sincerity.
One week later, Kate Bailey, the founder of the Hospo Hotline program – a podcast dedicated to workplace culture – produced an episode with Wandel that explored the saga so far: ‘Pints, Protests and Platitudes: A Mikkeller Update’.
The dialogue gained momentum… but it was not a surprise to many in the industry. Bailey had seen Mikkeller unravel since 2018 when she released a podcast about Mikkeller’s controversial ‘FemAle’ beer.
Another secret termination
Around this time, several Mikkeller reports hit hospitality publications, although the mainstream media was slow with the recording.
Kate Bernot – journalist for GoodBeerHunting – was among those with the strongest voice.
Her article July 1st ‘At a breaking point’ blew the doors of the bad working methods that take place at Mikkeller’s San Diego brewery and Warpigs in Copenhagen.
She mentioned Bjergsø, Madsen, Alsing, two specific brewery managers, and Pernille Pang (Mikkeller co-owner / head of PR / Bjergsø’s ex-wife) among those who encouraged or actively participated in humiliation, humiliation, harassment or general indifference.
Bernot reported that two of the former San Diego employees referred to the brewery as a “revolving door.” A former Warpigs employee who wished to remain anonymous said of his time there: “My mental health was absolutely bound.”
On August 2, Alsing stopped ‘Majoren’ as COO. It was another hush-hush affair, a full month later reported by Foodwatch – a newsletter on hospitality. Mikkeller stated that the position will not be re-filled.
Until now, very little news had actually made it to the public’s attention.
The boycott
But that changed when Mikkeller Beer Celebration Copenhagen (MBCC) on October 22, an international beer festival that normally attracts hundreds of guest breweries eager to network and share their beers with thousands of visitors, experienced a crippling number of dropouts in fourteen days before the incident due to Bjergsø’s incorrect handling of the poison culture accusations.
Bjergsø was invited on DR radio on 13 October to respond. It was another car accident in which he tried to circumvent accusations of ingrained cultural problems in Mikkeller.
In a Article at Berlingske the same day, he accused online ‘activists’ (read: Fanny Wandel) of trying to “harm Mikkeller” by “forcing breweries to drop out of MBCC”.
Wandel has since provided ample evidence in the form of screenshots of messages from breweries dropping out of the MBCC proving that this was not the case.
Five months late
Eventually, Bjergsø took to Instagram – the platform where it all started – and posted his first personal apology on October 18th.
“I am sorry for the interviews I gave in Berlingske Tidende last week about breweries dropping out of MBCC. Some of the things I said fell over as if I did not acknowledge Mikkeller’s responsibility. That was not my intention, ”he said.
For Wandel, a good result would be to see the balance restored in the industry. “It should be more acceptable for people to talk about offenses in public and out loud,” she said.
Time for change
It is a timely prayer. The hotel industry is facing a severe shortage of staff.
“I think everyone should take advantage of all the time we’ve had to reflect,” Wandel continued.
“People have left the industry because they were not taken care of or they realized that their jobs were an exhausting factor in their lives and they did not want to return to it.”
Last year, The Bartender’s Choice Award – an annual international industry award honoring individuals and companies in the field of hospitality – awarded the Wandel ‘Improving the Industry’ award. Looking ahead, she hopes her “cry for people to join the dialogue” will be heard.
“Now we are in a place where we should review our policies and the way we work. We need to make room for people to take care of their mental and physical health,” she said.
Now, Mikkeller. Your move.