Australian Brewery Releases — Then Pulls — Beer Named ‘Pussy Juice’

An Australian brewery drew internet ire last night after releasing a beer with the graphic name “Pussy Juice” — apparently in honor of one of its female employees.

Black Hops Brewing on the Gold Coast, just south of Brisbane, announced the beer on social media with a cutesy pastel-colored image of a bartender drawing on the wall (and inexplicably making a shaka sign with one hand). On Facebook, the brewery added a description for the New England IPA, describing the offering as “Wet and ready in front of you, a ripe and juicy peach,” and imploring potential drinkers to “Press your face towards the opening as you drink the goodness in.” Then, adding a dash of heteronormativity, the final line of the rhyming poem implores: “Get your mind out of the gutter boys (sic), it’s just a can of beer.”

Facebook screenshot

Unsurprisingly, the beer’s name and its introductory poem were not well-received, particularly on Twitter, where Black Hops bills itself as “3 dudes making #craftbeer”.

Black Hops pulled the post and tweet within a few hours, and posted a mea culpa to Facebook — “today we stuffed up and we apologise,” it reads in part — but as far as apologies go, it’s a weird one. The brewery explains that it creates custom beers to honor its employees after one year of work, and Pussy Juice was meant to represent their bar head, whose nickname is “AliCat.” The apology seems to pretend that Pussy Juice was not a tasteless and objectifying sexual reference, but rather, a play on AliCat’s feline name, combined with a description of the beer’s fruity flavor. “She expected it to be seen as a pro-women celebration,” they note, suggesting that the employee had signed off on the beer.

“Anyone who knows us knows that we are all genuine supporters of the industry, women in the industry, diversity in the industry,” the note reads.

Black Hops seems to acknowledge that the name wasn’t great for women (sort of), yet a second apology the following day seems much more thoughtful.

“Misogynistic images, language and behaviour is not acceptable...we hate the thought of women feeling out of place in any part of our industry.”

Yet for both apologies, a substantial number of commenters voiced their support for the brewers — and seem to think that a beer being pulled from market means the end of free speech.

• Black Hops Brewing [Facebook]
• How the UK’s Biggest Craft Beer Brewery Got Its Gender Pay Gap Messaging So Wrong [ELON]
• What It Means to Be a ‘Beer for Women’ [E]