Not only do I not pay for beer at the brewery I work for, I don't often get charged at other breweries I visit either. I feel like this is practice is pretty industry standard and encourages community amongst brewers.
Every brewery I've worked (or even volunteered at) never charged me for beer. We could generally get a beer whenever we wanted and most of the staff could take home short fills when they were available. I completely understand how some could abuse this privilege, but if/when that happens you either have a talk w/ said abuser and if they don't change, you fire their ass.
Now that I'm an owner/head brewer of my own place, the idea of charging my brewers is absolutely laughable to me. If they're wanting to take a whole keg or a bunch of our limited stuff home, sure we'll have that conversation and come up w/ a fair (discounted) price depending on our inventory, their position, the quantity they want, etc...but generally speaking our brewers are welcome to have a beer or two after work and/or even take a growler home free of charge. Considering how little most brewers get paid and how hard of work it can be, it's a very inexpensive perk that (IMO at least) should be totally standard.
And I think the chef analogy is perfect.
Comment