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Bollocks, darling, just bollocks

It seems we didn't have enough bollocks with those "Beers for Women" and "Beers for those who don't like beer". Now we have "Gay Beer"!

This article from a Mexican web page announces the launch of Purple Hand Beer and Salamandra Cerveza Artesanal. According to Bodega Doce, the company behind them, they are the "the first beers exclusive for the gay and lesbian community".

"Beers for women" tend to be quite pathetic products, not much different in concept to "Beers for those who don't like beer". Both take advantage of the image of beer as a "mildly alcoholic, yellowy fizzy beverage that should be drunk really cold". The reality is, though, that there are beers for absolutely everyone, it's only a matter of knowing what to choose. But I don't know, maybe this beers do have something different.

Well, unfortunately, doesn't go into much detail about the characteristics of the beers (colour, AVB %, etc.). They only say that they are brewed with organic honey (is there any other kind?).

I like some beers with honey and my wife loves them. Does that make me gay and her a lesbian? What makes these beers any different than every other brewed without distinction of the sexual orientation of the drinker? Are gays less gay or lesbians less lesbians if they like drinking a Double IPA or four or five desítky?

I understand that in this day and age some companies try hard to differentiate their products from the rest, and the best way to do that is finding a market niche. But this one is an example of lazy marketing, which happens also to be insulting, not as much perhaps to homosexuals as it is to our intelligence.

Na Zdraví!

PS: If there are any gay or lesbian readers out there, I would like to know what they think about this.

Choose a Hotel in Prague in the city centre.

Comments

  1. Agree about the beer.

    But do avoid the linguistic pedantry dated on a previous era. Language moved on.

    > organic honey (is there any other kind?)

    Yes clearly there is. Organic when combined with a foodstuff description has been used (apparently) since the 1940s and is now defined in Law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_certification#Certification_.26_product_labeling

    It seems non-English languages have also appropriated similar words from their lexicon for use in a similar way.

    Unless you mean that all honey is certified organic as defined by law? Which it obviously isn't, although what it means varies per certification.

    Just the way language moves on.

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  2. I was thinking about a line of beer for the blind, deaf and mute.

    -Chris

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  3. But if we are speaking about actual honey, the real stuff made by bees, without any sugar or other products added, isn't it organic? Is there a way a beekeeper can keep track of whether their bees aren't pollinating GM Sunflowers if such crop happened to be nearby?

    I am asking, really. Though, personally, I think that much of that "Organic" label is marketing bollocks as well.

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  4. Organic label can't actually be marketing bollocks in the sense that it is legally defined, and hence does make a difference in the way it's produced. If you think it is of any benefit is another discussion; which includes the discussion about for what it might be of benefit to (content of end product, consumer of end product, producer of product, environment around the production... etc...)

    But as you asked:- http://www.soilassociation.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=ic4qKgG2aiM%3D&tabid=353

    Chapter 15... I'll start pasting it here but it's not going to let me finish!

    ---%<---
    Origin of your bees and conversion
    15.1.4
    You must choose a breed of bee that is:
    • able to adapt to local conditions
    • vigorous, and
    • resistant to disease
    Note – we would expect this to be a European breed or local ecotype of Apis
    mellifera or a native species or breed from the area where you are producing
    the honey.
    ---%<---
    You should encourage resistance to disease and prevent infections by:
    • renewing the queens regularly
    • carefully inspecting your hives to detect health problems
    • controlling the male brood in your hives
    • disinfecting materials and equipment regularly
    • destroying contaminated material
    • regularly renewing beeswax, and
    • leaving enough reserves of honey and pollen in your hives.
    15.2.3
    If, despite taking all preventative measures, your colonies become infected
    you must:
    ---%<---
    Welfare of bees
    15.2.7
    You may kill and replace the queen bee.
    15.2.8
    You must not:
    • clip the wings of the queen bee, or
    • use artificial insemination.
    15.3
    Feeding bees
    15.3.1
    You must leave your colonies with enough honey and pollen reserves to
    survive the winter.
    15.3.2
    You may only artificially feed your bees:
    • between the last honey harvest and 15 days before the start of the next
    nectar or honeydew flow period, or
    • when they are in danger of dying due to extreme weather conditions.
    ---%<---
    Siting and managing your apiaries
    15.4.1
    EU member states may have identified regions or areas where organic
    beekeeping is not practical. You must not site or manage your apiaries in
    those areas.
    15.4.2
    When you are siting your apiaries you must:
    i. organic crops, and/or
    ii. uncultivated areas with natural vegetation, and
    iii. crops that have only been managed with low environmental
    impact methods (such as those grown under Regulation (EEC)
    No. 2078/92) and which cannot significantly affect the organic
    description of beekeeping, and
    • keep them far enough from potential sources of contamination, such as
    urban centres, motorways, industrial areas, waste dumps and waste
    incinerators.
    ---%<---
    You must
    provide us with evidence of this, such as:
    • a pesticide residue analysis of the honey, and
    • details of how the land in the region around the apiary is managed.

    ---%<---
    Hives and materials you can use
    15.4.8 | Revised
    Your hives must be made mainly of natural materials which give no risk of
    contaminating either the environment, the bee products or the bees themselves.
    ---%<---
    Extraction
    15.4.12
    You must make sure you adequately extract, process and store your bee
    products.
    You must not:
    • use chemical synthetic repellents during honey extraction operations
    • destroy bees in the combs to harvest bee products, or
    • extract honey from combs that contain brood.

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  5. Chapter 15:-

    http://www.soilassociation.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=ic4qKgG2aiM%3D&tabid=353

    It's clearly not just marketing bollocks. If it's of any positive value is another discussion; and who or what it might be positive for (end consumer, producer, environment around production etc..) Reading the above I tend toward only the environment around the production.

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  6. Ahoj Pivní Filosof..
    According to bollocks about Organic quality. I do'nt know how serious you are about this or how experienced you may be on a personal level?

    As the former writer mentioned; things move on in this world (luckily ;) )
    Organic production is by far more serious than most industrial products. -Including the beer's you are so fancy of ;)

    I'm talking from personal knowledge and experience.(some 20 + years of experience as farmer, customer and craftsman in various sorts of this business. Including manufactoring stainless steel for breweries, slaughterhouses etc)

    You might as well say that beer is just beer.. The rest is bollocks. -Not that close to the truth or even a serious statement from your experience.
    Or?

    Skål / Na Zdraví!

    Lars

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  7. I know and have experience with organic products. I'm well aware that there are regulations and that they don't give the "Organic" certificate to anyone who asks for it. But I also know, from personal experience, that "Organic" doesn't necessarily mean "better", though it does usually mean "more expensive".

    I have also spoken with farmers, etc. and from several of them I've heard that technically speaking they are organic, but they can't afford the certification process and therefore, they can't sell their stuff as "Organic", even though it is.

    The question here is not with the "Organic" thing as a whole, but more specifically, with "Organic Honey". Can beekeepers really control where their bees are flying? In our garden we have many bees in spring and summer and the nearest hives I've seen must be about 2km away. There might be some that are closer, but I'm certain that there aren't any within 1km radius. Now, I live next to a field where last season rapeseed was grown. I'm bloody sure some of the bees that were flying among our roses, also flew among the rape and the sunflowers in the next field.

    Now, if these people claimed they've used organic hops or organic malts, there wouldn't be any discussion there.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Seems my reply dropped. Looking at the Soil Association's rules for bee keepers (there are of course different rules for different certifications) there are rules about where you can site hives in relation to the environment and what is grown around. But also on how you treat the bees, what medication can be used, what they live in and on and a whole raft of other stuff.

    I'm guessing the biggest difference is likely to be to the general environment.

    I remember one case where bee keepers stopped the growth of a test GM crop because that meant that they wouldn't bring their bees to the area, so the other farmers were up in arms that there wouldn't be any pollination of their crop (borrage if I recall).

    Anyway Chapter 15 http://www.soilassociation.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=ic4qKgG2aiM%3D&tabid=353 for those interested.

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  9. Terry, there's actually something I'd like to confess, I'm a lesbian....

    Anonymus,

    So, it turns out that there is proper "Organic Honey", go figure. Thanks for the data!

    PS: Anyone out there fancies brewing a beer for bisexuals?

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  10. If the ad shows girls kissing girls i'll buy pretty much anything

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