Whale testicle beer proves hard to swallow

[Super Nova]

The things people do to have a unique beer.

Beer brewers seem a strange bunch.

Whale testicle beer proves hard to swallow

It takes balls to go drinking in Iceland. Plans for a seasonal beer flavoured with smoked whale testicle have infuriated conservationists, however.

The Stedji brewery announced that it will start selling a beer made with the cured testicle of the fin whale on January 23, to coincide with the Thorrablot festival.

Dagbjartur Ariliusson, the brewery’s co-owner, courted controversy with a seasonal ale last winter made with whale meat. It was initially banned by the Icelandic public health authority but later approved by the fisheries ministry, and all 5,000 litres of the limited edition brew quickly sold out.

The ban on using whale meat was reinstated later in the year but Mr Ariliusson said that official permission had been given for the whale testicle variety.

“We live in a country that allows whaling and the whaling is very well controlled by the Icelandic authorities - fisheries here are self sustainable and very responsible,” he said.

“According to our research the fin whale in North Atlantic is not at risk of extinction.”

The testicles were cured “according to an old, Icelandic tradition” before being salted and smoked, with one being used per brewing. They can weigh up to 2.5kg each in a mature male.

Fin whales were put on the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature because numbers declined by around 70 per cent in the last 80 years to an estimated 53,000 in the North Atlantic.

“There is more to this than mere sensationalism,“ said Vanessa Williams-Grey, anti-whaling campaigner at Whale and Dolphin Conservation.

“This is a calculated move, not only to dishonour a beautiful and endangered creature by using its most intimate of body parts as a marketing tool, but also sends a clear ‘two fingers’ to the conservation community and those who love and respect whales,” she said.

“Right-minded people would no sooner drink beer brewed with whale testicles than they would order similar drinks made with tiger, elephant or rhino testicles and our hope, of course, is that visitors to Iceland will treat this latest offering with the disdain it deserves.”

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/life/food ... 322267.ece

[boxy]

Yay. Free publicity.

[lisa jones]

The things people do to have a unique beer.

Beer brewers seem a strange bunch.

Whale testicle beer proves hard to swallow

It takes balls to go drinking in Iceland. Plans for a seasonal beer flavoured with smoked whale testicle have infuriated conservationists, however.

The Stedji brewery announced that it will start selling a beer made with the cured testicle of the fin whale on January 23, to coincide with the Thorrablot festival.

Dagbjartur Ariliusson, the brewery’s co-owner, courted controversy with a seasonal ale last winter made with whale meat. It was initially banned by the Icelandic public health authority but later approved by the fisheries ministry, and all 5,000 litres of the limited edition brew quickly sold out.

The ban on using whale meat was reinstated later in the year but Mr Ariliusson said that official permission had been given for the whale testicle variety.

“We live in a country that allows whaling and the whaling is very well controlled by the Icelandic authorities - fisheries here are self sustainable and very responsible,” he said.

“According to our research the fin whale in North Atlantic is not at risk of extinction.”

The testicles were cured “according to an old, Icelandic tradition” before being salted and smoked, with one being used per brewing. They can weigh up to 2.5kg each in a mature male.

Fin whales were put on the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature because numbers declined by around 70 per cent in the last 80 years to an estimated 53,000 in the North Atlantic.

“There is more to this than mere sensationalism,“ said Vanessa Williams-Grey, anti-whaling campaigner at Whale and Dolphin Conservation.

“This is a calculated move, not only to dishonour a beautiful and endangered creature by using its most intimate of body parts as a marketing tool, but also sends a clear ‘two fingers’ to the conservation community and those who love and respect whales,” she said.

“Right-minded people would no sooner drink beer brewed with whale testicles than they would order similar drinks made with tiger, elephant or rhino testicles and our hope, of course, is that visitors to Iceland will treat this latest offering with the disdain it deserves.”

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/life/food ... 322267.ece

Wonder if the Alco Eunuch knows about this?