Promoting Responsibility in a Craft Brewery
The potential for alcohol abuse including drunk driving, although statistically declining over the past 20 years, is still too high in the United States…
First, it is a major burden and responsibility for craft breweries to ensure the safety and well being of their patrons and community within the ethics that guide our social norms and values. Not only is it the right thing to do, it is also the legal thing to do. Any alcohol establishment is governed by rules handed down by Federal, State, & Local Governing Bodies, which dictate our burden of liability in the serving of alcohol. Violations such as over-serving can result in the revocation of our license, criminal charges, & civil penalties. When it comes to responsible alcohol consumption, craft breweries are indeed at the forefront of responsibility of ensuring a safe and healthy environment for all.
How do we plan to go about this responsibility? Alcohol awareness training and testing is a key element that we hold as a top priority for our entire staff, from owners to bar-backs. There are many well established training programs that exist and once enacted, will create internal policies on how our staff ensures these trainings are put into functional use. Simple examples include a situational awareness of how many drinks have been served to patrons, not serving drinks to a patron who isn’t present to order their own drink, having visual management presence in our taproom, and ensuring patrons know our policies by visually posting those policies. Simply, when you are cut off based on our policies, we will enforce that policy strictly.
Another great aspect of living in our current modern world is the advent of rideshare services. Many breweries associations including our own Florida Brewers Guild have rolled out rideshare grants to breweries that allows us to have a pool of funds to be able to get everyone home safe at the end of every night by removing any barrier to a safe ride home. Once again, this will be implemented into internal policies that allow the situational awareness of all our staff to discreetly ensure anyone who may need that extra help a safe way of getting home.
While this very much so a scratch at the surface of our plans to ensure a safe and enjoyable environment in our establishment, we hope it gives you a glimpse into what craft breweries are doing to combat the issues that revolve around alcohol consumption. We want to foster a taproom that is family friendly and a place where our community can gather. As we say a lot, this isn't just about beer, it's about community, and keeping our community safe is our top priority.
Are you or a love one experiencing substances abuse or mental health issues? Check out our mental health & addiction resources.