This is a story about a local brewery starting to package its beers in aluminum cans, but it’s also more than that. Yes, beer lovers in Washington should be excited to learn that Olympia’s Headless Mumby Brewing is now packaging its beer, but such news is not really surprising these days. In recent months, many breweries responded to the pandemic’s challenges by packaging their beer for the first time.
The other part of this story involves Headless Mumby Brewing’s decision to sign up with a union. Local 66 Lager is the first beer to roll off the new canning line and is named after the local chapter of the Sheet Metal Workers Local Union. In addition to being a tasty beverage, Local 66 Lager’s mission is to bring renewed awareness to the value of organized labor.
Headless Mumby Brewing opened its doors in 2018, focusing on brewing lager-style beers. In 2019, Headless Mumby became a signatory employer of S.M.A.R.T. Local 66. As such, it is one of just a few independent union-member breweries in the country.
Co-Owner Alex Maffeo explains, “As a longtime member of S.M.A.R.T. Local 66 myself, I was thrilled when they approached us to discuss creating a beer,” said Alex Maffeo, co-owner at Headless Mumby. “We had already signed with them as an employer and this seemed the perfect fit.”
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Among the reason to sign on as a member involves employee benefits, as Moffeo explains. “Signing up allowed us to easily provide our employees with benefits that would otherwise be unavailable to a business of our size. Now we have the opportunity to celebrate that with an incredibly drinkable lager.”
Following the canning of Local 66 Lager, Headless Mumby canned its flagship beer, Smoked Rye Lager. Canning runs for the two beers are happening on a bi-weekly basis. Six-packs are available at the brewery taproom as well as a number of bottleshops and beer-focused businesses in the Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia areas.
