The Response
The Daily News
Heartland Brewery’s Bavarian Black Lager promises customers will become ‘a slave to the flavor.’
Joe Bloostein, owner of Heartland Brewery, said the “slave” reference “clearly refers” to the master-slave S&M scene on the glass, nothing more.
“Connecting the world ‘black’ in Bavarian Black Lager to black people is incredibly farfetched,” Bloostein said. “Alleging any connection to racism is ridiculous.”
“I really haven’t heard that about (the beer),” said Anna Anderson, the manager of the Union Square location, who is African-American.
Many black customers and employees shrugged off the questionable undertones.
“It’s a beer,” said Taryn Harris, 40. “I didn’t interpret it that way. People are slaves to whatever they like. They’re a slave to their addictions, be it food or sex. That’s how I interpreted it, as an addiction, not anything else.”
Maquino Sylvester, 21, a waiter at the Union Square location, also saw nothing wrong with the beer’s logo.
“It’s supposed to be something hot,” he said, looking at the picture. “I’m not offended, but I’m no racist. Why should we focus on black or white? We are all going to the same place one day.”
Source: (www.nydailynews.com)
Our Response
Tom,
Heartland’s Bavarian Black Lager beer and logo has been available in our restaurants for the past 15 years and we’ve heard no complaints to date until now. Our advertisements for the beer have been in numerous print media without a single complaint to date. Heartland has hundreds of African American employees who find the logo relevant to the beer and funny; again, no complaints.
People get the humor of the dominatrix scene and find it amusing, as it has been intended to be. The logo includes a dominatrix and submissive or Master and Slave which is part of the S&M vernacular, and not racist. Both people in the S&M cartoon logo are white. The image suggests our beer will win you over and that you will be a slave to the flavor. The term “slave to the favor” clearly refers to the master / slave S&M scene. Connecting the word “black” in Bavarian Black Lager to black people is incredibly farfetched . Alleging any connection to racism is ridiculous.
Regards,
Jon Bloostein
Jezebel.com
Oh hey, look: white people doing something dumb and insensitive about race. It must be any day of the week again.
This time it’s New York City’s Heartland Brewery, which serves a Bavarian Black Lager as a seasonal beer during the winter. That in and of itself is obviously fine — the problem is that the drink’s unique glasses (among other promotional materials) are emblazoned with the phrase “you’ll be a slave to the flavor.” Unsurprisingly and understandably, people are none too pleased with this:
Kirsten John Foy of the National Action Network called the beer’s slogan “absolutely inappropriate, offensive and intentionally provocative.”
“At a time when race relations are at the heart of the national and local discourse, Heartland Brewery has decided to evoke the pain and trauma of our nation’s most shameful and hateful legacy and use it as a cheap marketing ploy,” he said.
Given the picture on the glass of a dominatrix and a member of her clientele, it seems pretty clear Heartland’s intent wasn’t to refer to the African slave trade. Let’s just get that out of the way, not because it matters, but because you know full well people are going to start shouting it as if it does.
Look, it really doesn’t matter what Heartland’s intent was; if I accidentally punched someone while stretching my arms in a public park, then stubbornly refused to apologize and insisted I’d done nothing wrong because I didn’t intend to hit them, I’d be an asshole. The decent thing to do at this point would be for Heartland to say “Oops, we fucked up, we’re going to fix it, and we’re sorry.” Heartland, however, has decided to go in a different direction:
Joe Bloostein, owner of Heartland Brewery, said the “slave” reference “clearly refers” to the master-slave S&M scene on the glass, nothing more.
“Connecting the world ‘black’ in Bavarian Black Lager to black people is incredibly farfetched,” Bloostein said. “Alleging any connection to racism is ridiculous.”
Employees (of all races, it’s worth noting) also claim “no one has complained about it before,” which might be true, but race relations haven’t been at as much of a national fever pitch as they are now since at least the 90’s, if not earlier. That’s what happens when one cop doesn’t even have to stand trial for murdering an 18-year-old kid (thanks in part to blatantly unethical behavior on the part of the prosecuting attorney in the case), then two others decide to straight-up murder a 12-year-old with a toy gun, to say nothing of the hundreds of other victims of police violence. People are pissed, and they damn well have a right to be. You guys really didn’t think about the greater context here?
Come on, Joe. Don’t go full Dan Snyder with this. Change the glasses, because all you’re doing by huffing and puffing about the “ridiculousness” of the concerns of PoC is making yourself look like a dick. If you need to serve the beer in plain pint glasses because it’s too late to have new ones made, it’s still better than the alternative. It’s not going to lose you business to use plain pint glasses, but it very well could to dig in your heels and be as New York as possible about your boo-boo.
Source (kitchenette.jezebel.com)
Our Response
Heartland Brewery has been a New York establishment since 1995. We have had several core beer brands since inception including Farmer Jon’s Oatmeal Stout, Smiling Pumpkin Ale, Old Red Nose Holiday Ale and the recently-debated Bavarian Black Lager.
First and foremost, the Bavarian Black Lager is internationally recognized style of beer, also known as a Schwarzbier. It is a dark German-style lager made with roasted malts and slight hop bitterness.
The Bavarian Black Lager is a delicious, easy-drinking dark lager that leaves you wanting more – hence “you’ll be a slave to the flavor.” This inspired the dominatrix and slave artwork in the logo. The Bavarian Black Lager being the dominatrix and we, the willing drinker, a slave to it’s addicting flavor.
Your suggestion that we are being insensitive about recent political and social events, given that this brand has been around for over 15 years without complaint is ludicrous
“Given the picture on the glass of a dominatrix and a member of her clientele, it seems pretty clear Heartland’s intent wasn’t to refer to the African slave trade.”
We’re glad you agree.
Cheers,
Jon Bloostein
