Despite dozens of breweries withdrawing from the Mikkeller Beer Celebration Copenhagen (MBCC) in opposition to the Danish brewery’s handling of sexual harassment and bullying within the company, the event drew roughly 7,500 ticket holders to its sessions Oct. 22-23. Images of the event posted to social media show a celebratory atmosphere, but outside the tastings and post-festival revelry, former employees of the brewery continue to wait for answers to questions about when the brewery’s leadership was made aware of misconduct, and how it plans to right its wrongs. These issues were at the center of dozens of breweries’ decisions not to participate in the event.
Instead, two meetings organized by Mikkeller adjacent to the Copenhagen-based festival on Oct. 21 and 25 created more confusion, spoke generally about how workplaces should deal with harassment, and offered few concrete answers for what’s actually going to happen next as Mikkeller says it will work to rectify past wrongs.
Several former Mikkeller employees who experienced bullying, sexual harassment, and discrimination did not participate in the meetings. Ahead of the festival, brewery leadership said those two public sessions would be the way they would engage with people who brought allegations against them or had criticism of the company. Dictating these kinds of terms to address situations of emotional and physical trauma are seen as manipulating power dynamics in relationships.)
The small group of former employees say they are waiting for representatives from the brewery to answer questions they’ve submitted via email two weeks ago before they will agree to participate in discussions. In the meantime, the meetings held last week have only made the situation more confusing.
In the first meeting, held Oct. 21, audience members expressed frustration at the format of the event, which did not include opportunities for attendees to ask questions of Mikkeller representatives. The invitation for the event billed it as an event “to listen more and engage in the issues that are within the community,” in line with goals the company has stated in recent weeks.
That meeting was moderated by Danish actress Katja Holm, who has been a critic of sexism and harassment within the European film industry. Her opening remarks focused on the importance of discussing issues of workplace harassment, and were followed by Mikkeller founder Mikkel Borg Bjergsø and CEO Kenneth Madsen. The two men collectively spoke for about 15 minutes without taking questions from the audience, according to a recording of the meeting provided to Good Beer Hunting.
The next person to speak was Anna Thygesen, also a Danish actress, who is known for her advocacy against sexism in the film world. She spoke generally about workplace harassment. According to Danish newspaper Berlingske, Mikkeller has hired Thygesen as a “critical consultant,” with the newspaper writing that she will be “a mouthpiece for the victims.” Mikkeller tells Good Beer Hunting the company “only hired Anna Thygesen to step in as representative and support for survivors at the first forum.”
After 32 minutes, moderator Holm opened the floor to questions, at which point an audience member stated they were confused by the agenda of the event, which was billed as a dialogue but hadn’t yet included the opportunity for audience members to participate.
“The lack of structure is, as you well put it, because of kind of a chaotic situation,” Holm responded. ”I do apologize that you didn’t get an agenda but this has been prepared at the eleventh hour just as a first step to meet each other and talk to each other.”
Holm then invited in-person attendees to discuss what they’d heard in small breakout groups at their tables, and to submit feedback (though she didn’t specify how) which could be taken into account to shape the Oct. 25 meeting. A person who attended both Mikkeller meetings, but asked that their name not be used, said there were approximately 40 people present in the room for the Oct. 21 meeting, mostly employees from other breweries based in Copenhagen or which had attended MBCC, who were seated at tables of seven or eight.
The second meeting, which took place on Oct. 25, was moderated by Amanda McLamb, co-founder of Resident Culture Brewing Co. in Charlotte, North Carolina, who said she was leading the discussion “to hold [Mikkeller] and the brewing industry accountable.” But who should define accountability or justice and determine whether it’s been achieved in such cases is an open question. In a recording of the meeting provided to Good Beer Hunting, McLamb opens by outlining the format of the event and calling the prior meeting “a failure.” McLamb did not respond to Good Beer Hunting’s requests for an interview.
The top priority, McLamb said, was to answer attendees’ questions, and then share Mikkeller’s action plan, which could be adopted by other breweries to combat workplace harassment. In an email sent 24 hours prior to those registered for the event, attendees were directed to submit questions ahead of time via an online form. While this did allow for more dialogue than the prior meeting, it still wasn’t the in-person, direct engagement with Mikkeller the brewery has said it would participate in since the summer. Mikkeller representatives answering the questions were Bjergsø, Madsen, Mikkeller’s head of HR Thilde Tobiesen, and Ditte Lassen-Kahlke, whom the meeting invite identified as the chair of Mikkeller’s board but whose LinkedIn lists her as Mikkeller’s general counsel, lead legal voice for the brewery.
It’s not clear whether every submitted question was asked and answered. The first submitted question that McLamb read out was: “Why is Mikkeller deciding what questions they should answer? Shouldn’t it be the moderator or a third-party group deciding what is relevant to the agenda of this session?”
Lassen-Kahlke replied that Mikkeller did intend to answer every submitted question, and that’s why a moderator had been invited to read, review, and ask them.
Questions posed focused on topics like:
How the company will investigate allegations of wrongdoing that have circulated on social media but may or may not have been brought to the brewery’s attention directly.
How the brewery plans to address harassment that may have been perpetrated by employees who have since left the company.
How Bjergsø’s statements to Danish media have mischaracterized aspects of the situation.
Madsen repeatedly mentioned that Mikkeller is investigating every instance of misconduct that has come to the company’s attention, and has been “broadening the net” to talk to as many former employees as possible, including those that did not experience harassment. He did not clarify the methods of either action or a timeline to share outcomes.
While the format of the second meeting did allow for more questions to Mikkeller representatives, an attendee tells Good Beer Hunting there were fewer attendees at the second meeting than the first, estimating about 30 total, in-person and virtually.
Those most harmed by Mikkeller’s wrongdoings—former employees who experienced harassment—have been notably absent from recent public discussions. This represents a double-edged sword: On one hand, some of these women are eager to have sensitive discussions privately and not in the glare of the public eye. On the other hand, discussions being held without them can give the impression that other people are speaking for their experiences or on their behalf, without these women’s input.
“I just want people to know that there are conversations being had behind the scenes, and I don’t want people to think that we’re being uncooperative or hostile or have a vendetta,” Megan Stone, one of those former employees, told Good Beer Hunting earlier this month.
Meanwhile, as of Oct. 29, representatives from Mikkeller have not responded to questions submitted via email by former employees, which were sent two weeks prior. Company leaders say they are reviewing the questions and would schedule a virtual meeting with the group, but have not said when that would take place.
Words by Kate Bernot