CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Hoppin', a popular taproom in South End Charlotte, announced on Sunday that it would be closing its doors for the day in light of an "incident" that took place the night before. While Hoppin' has not confirmed exactly what the incident is, a video has been shared on Reddit and Instagram showing a customer drinking directly from one of the taps.
In the video shared on an Instagram story by the freelance journalism community FYE CLT, a customer can be seen putting her mouth up to the tap to drink from it as people seem to cheer her on. FYE CLT told WCNC Charlotte the video was shared with them by one of their followers, who has not been named.
Hoppin' said in a post on Sunday that the incident was "completely unacceptable, not indicative of how we run our establishment and will not be tolerated."
In response, the individual responsible has been permanently banned from the establishment.
The owner of Hoppin', Rich Moyer, confirmed that employees were able to identify the customer in the video on-site. Hoppin uses wristbands connected to credit or debit cards to log customers' pours, which also helped the company save the customer's first and last name.
The taproom was closed on Sunday so staff could ensure everything has been cleaned and sanitized in addition to usual cleaning services. It will be reopening Monday.
Moyer said Hoppin' already cleans their taps routinely during operating hours and nightly, and the business has a sanitizing service and cleaning company that cleans the facility routinely.
Hoppin' will be turning off the tap that the incident occurred on.
"We are adding more security so this does not happen again and anyone who attempts to do this will be banned as well as their group," Moyer said in an email to WCNC Charlotte. "This type of behavior is not acceptable and will not be tolerated at our establishment."