There is no good guy in the macabre tragedy of how California erupted in flames and shut down in total darkness. But there is a little guy with a brewery.
For half a century, the state’s governing leftists have slowly but surely closed the nuclear plants that efficiently provided power for millions without polluting greenhouse gases. Gavin Newsom, whose family received nearly $1 million in donations from the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, made shutting down PG&E’s last surviving nuclear plant at Diablo Canyon a marquee issue of his lieutenant governorship. As the despot of Sacramento, he’s watched the fruits of his labor shut down vast swaths of California’s power supply.
And PG&E is as much a comic book villain as its cronies in the capital. It negotiates its rates with the state and then uses its profit margins to gift its executives with hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses as its aging pipelines cause deaths.
Now, multiple fires engulf the state, and PG&E, which ran out the clock in ignoring its fraying infrastructure, had to enact roving blackouts to prevent the state’s further incineration.
Californians are angry and literally powerless. But one Northern California brewery will not go gentle into that good night.
Santa Rosa’s Shady Oak Barrel House brewed a beer aptly named “F— PG&E,” billed as “a classic California pale ale, featuring Cashmere and Simcoe hops and a touch of malt sweetness.” Rather than rail against Newsom or his lackeys, the public has aimed its ire at Shady Oak.
Hundreds of livid Californians spammed the brewery’s social media, but Shady Oak won’t back down.
“What inspired the name of this beer is how the corporate bigwigs at PG&E chose to line their pockets and ignore their responsibilities in their role that led to the destruction of communities across California,” owner Steve Doty explained.
Cheers to that.
