Pretty Things Gets Ugly

Early Tuesday morning saw the beginning of a tempest in a beer stein as it were, with Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project co-owner and founder Dann Paquette unleashing a flurry of incensed Tweets contending less than legal business practices in the Boston beer industry.

, Pretty Things Gets Ugly

Allegations that the city is polluted with illegal “pay to play” tactics created an ongoing Internet firestorm, arousing the ire of brewers and industry members alike on both sides of the debate. By Wednesday afternoon, both The Boston Globe and the regulatory Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission (ABCC) had taken notice.

, Pretty Things Gets UglyPaquette’s late-night diatribe named local establishments Bukowski’s Boston and The Lower Depths–both owned by Wilcox Hospitality Group–guilty of payola, or “pay to play,” a serious indictment with significant potential legal consequences. Gordon Wilcox defended his establishments in a searing open letter accusing Paquette of tweeting under the influence and selling an inferior overpriced product. He did not, however, explicitly deny the charge leveled against the hospitality group.

In an interview with The Boston Globe, Paquette guessed that upwards of half of the drinking establishments in the city were guilty of accepting bribes from distributors or breweries in one way or another for preferential treatment in bars and liquor stores. Paquette’s accusations have revealed this commonly unregulated practice, with several breweries, publicans, and industry types openly admitting to seeing such rampant abuse in cities across the country. Having coined the hashtag #dirtylines, Paquette hopes that his cause gains favor from industry members and consumers alike. Unfortunately, many in beer sales are worried about outing this practice, angering the very customers on whom they rely for business. Paquette continued to note, “…somebody had to jump into the fire and maybe get in trouble.”

The flood of activity has drawn the attention of the ABCC, an organization whose unidentified spokesman professed in the Globe to not having enforced fair play regulations in almost 20 years.

Throughout the day on Wednesday, members of the state’s expanding craft beer industry rallied to the hashtag while belligerents on both sides were drawing battle lines. An unnamed employee of a Massachusetts brewery commented on the incident, predicting the beginning of something significant and far-reaching. “This is going to run through the entire industry. It starts with beer and is going to end with sake,” he said. While refusing to get into detail, he alleged that the rabbit hole of bribery might reach deeper than people realize. “They’ve poked the beast [ABCC] and now there’s a shit storm coming,” he said.

If the corruption is as rampant and systemic as several industry reps claim, the necessary clampdown is perhaps unlikely. “In this town, it’s how business is done,” Paquette said. While the ABCC investigates these claims, the beer community is left wondering if pay to play tactics are as widespread as Paquette’s assertions imply.

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