Craft Brew News 08/08/19

(Courtesy of Brewbound – www.brewbound.com)

Down the Road Beer Company Founder Donovan Bailey Dead at Age 46

Donovan Bailey, the founder of Everett, Massachusetts-based Down the Road Beer Company, died on July 31, at the age of 46.

According to Bailey’s obituary, he died “unexpectedly” at his home in Malden.

Bailey founded Down the Road in 2013. According to Bailey’s obituary, Down the Road was his passion project, after working in several different fields, including construction, serving in the U.S. Army National Guard and as an EMT.

“When you love what you do and it’s your passion … it isn’t work,” Bailey’s obituary read. “The long hours and all that accompanies a successful start up business, Down the Road Beer Co. on Ashland Street in Everett was Donovan Bailey’s dream come true.”

Last year, Down the Road produced 3,500 barrels of beer, according to data from national trade group the Brewers Association.

Pyramid Owner Reaches $450,000 Settlement with Alehouse Workers

Around 300 current and former workers of Seattle’s Pyramid Alehouse will split a $450,000 settlement for unpaid wages, according to the Seattle Times.

FIFCO USA, the parent company of Pyramid Brewing Company, will pay some workers nearly $10,000 for allegedly not paying them for overtime, inaccurately recording hours worked, or “time shaving” by deleting hours from time sheets, the outlet reported.

Jeremy Brotherton, a now-former Pyramid Alehouse prep worker and dishwasher, told the outlet that his hours worked would be adjusted to below 80 hours so that the company would avoid paying for overtime.

The lawsuit also accused the company of not allowing workers to take breaks or giving them time to eat meals during their shifts.

A FIFCO USA spokesperson said the company takes employee complaints seriously and reviews all of its practices following complaints.

Manhattan Beer Distributors, Delivery Drivers Engaged in $50 Million Lawsuit

Delivery drivers are suing New York’s Manhattan Beer Distributors in federal court for alleged wage theft, according to Law360.com.

The case, first filed in 2015, resurfaced last week as workers and the beer wholesaler presented motions for summary judgment.

According to the lawsuit, the beer wholesalers’ drivers claim that the company violated New York labor law by docking their pay for items such as “missing beer cans and unreturned pallets.” The drivers say the company attempted to recoup standard operational costs from them “first through garnished wages and eventually through invoices enforced by the threat of termination.”

“The practice strikes me as especially appalling in light of the fact that this beer behemoth with a virtual stranglehold on the metro New York beer market chooses to illegally impose its losses on workers whose financial standing is far more precarious than its own,” Steven Wittels, an attorney for the drivers, told Law360.

Manhattan Beer Distributors has disputed the drivers’ claims, arguing that the company did not violate labor laws because “a commission does not become a ‘wage’ until it is ‘earned.’”

Left Hand Enters CBD-Infused, Non-Alcoholic Drink Market

Colorado’s Left Hand Brewing Company is partnering with WAAYB Organics to launch a new line of CBD-infused, non-alcoholic sparkling water drinks called Present.

Present will come in three flavors — “natural,” lemon-lime and blood orange — and checks in at zero calories and 20 mg of “full spectrum CBD distillate from hemp grown” on WAAYB’s USDA certified organic Northern Colorado farm. Online sales are slated to begin August 12, according to a press release.

WAAYB Organics CEO Scott Cusack said in the release “We oversee the entire process from putting seeds into soil, to cultivation, harvesting, extraction and distillation,” WAAYB Organics CEO Scott Cusack said in the release. “We firmly believe this is the only way to create CBD products our customers can trust.”

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