Shady Oak Barrel House receives unexpected backlash from many after news spread of the local brewery’s new beer named “F—PG&E”. 

Steve Doty, Shady Oak owner, and Sonoma State University alumni built the local brewery on the hope of a modern, funky, environment for people of all ages to enjoy. With his mastery of beer brewing and unique names of his creations, Doty’s business quickly took off and became a hit for Sonoma County locals.

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) run a large portion of Sonoma County’s gas and electric services, meaning that when the Tubbs and Kincade fires began, in 2017 and 2019, power shut-offs became extremely frequent. Extended power shut-offs such as these caused many businesses and households to lose a lot of money and product that had been kept functional by light and refrigeration. 

“We had released the beer last Wednesday (November 6) and had only heard positive responses from the community,” says Steve Doty, “It wasn’t until Saturday (November 9) that we had one person react negatively, it just spread from there.”

After news of backlash got back to Shady Oak, the barrel house released a statement on Facebook stating that their intentions were not to offend the “honest and hard-working” PG&E employees, but rather the corporate level employees. 

Many wives of PG&E linemen fired back on the statement replying that the name of the beer was still insulting, not only to the company but to their husbands and families that have been affected as well. Others in the community then banded together on Facebook as they commented that to name a beer “F—PG&E” was disrespectful to the linemen and other employees although the executives are to blame. Current PG&E workers then joined in, raising the point that no matter how the beer was intended to be recognized, the employees are still a part of PG&E as a whole and that they continue to receive negativity. 

“Naming the beer ‘F—PG&E’ was never meant as a personal attack on the linemen and workers themselves,” says Doty, “We have plenty of regulars who are PG&E workers that have shown their support for us, we wanted to recognize that we were all affected by this.”

Cal Fire released a statement in the spring of 2019 stating that the Camp Fire of 2018, the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history, as a result of transmission lines owned by PG&E. After news of this spread and the Kincade Fire recently affecting so many more families in California, PG&E was assumed to be at fault once again creating unrest for several residents and businesses in Sonoma County. 

“The Camp Fire was PG&E’s fault, they were at fault for that,” says Doty, “Shady Oak has been receiving emails from fire victims showing their support for the name of our beer. I don’t think that you will find too many people in Sonoma County that disagree.”

Upon the news of Shady Oak’s new beer, fourth-year Sonoma State student, Brady Benner, wanted to try it out for himself. “The beer itself is really good, it is super light and refreshing,” says Benner, “I personally love that the owner named the beer what he did. I feel like a lot of people, especially businesses, don’t take a stance on opinions like this and as someone affected by two fires now in Sonoma County, I think it’s really empowering.”