Brewer Stedji slammed over whale beer
What a screamer: Icelandic microbrewery Stedji has produced a beer in time for the country’s mid-winter festival, Thorri (23 January until 22 February 2015) which has the world up in arms. Stedji’s Hvalur 2 beer (hvalur = whale) is made with the testicles of fin whales that were smoked in a “traditional way” with dried sheep dung. What makes the beer so political is the fact that fin whales are classified as endangered on the conservation Red List.
The outcry from conservationists was, well, loud. Vanessa Williams-Grey, anti-whaling campaigner at Whale and Dolphin Conservation, was quoted as saying: “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 added: “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.”
Dagbjartur Ariliusson, from the brewery, said: “We live in a country that allows whaling and the whaling is very well controlled by the Icelandic authorities, but fisheries here are self-sustainable and very responsible.
“According to our research the fin whale in North Atlantic is not at risk of extinction.”
In the old Norse calendar, Thorri was the name of a month that ran from roughly mid-January to mid-February. Thorri is a reference to the ancient deity of frost and winter, which is fitting since it was usually the coldest month of the year. During this month there was usually a blót, or a sacrifice combined with a festival, to appease the god and ensure the return of summer. With Christianization this tradition died out, but was resurrected by romantic nationalists in the 19th century, and Thorrablót celebrations (minus the sacrifice) have today become a firmly established tradition.
During modern Thorrablóts, it is customary to eat some of the old-fashioned foods Icelanders used to consume before they had refrigerators. The dominant flavours are pickled, salted, dried and smoked. Some of the food is quite good, but a lot of it will seem very strange to those unfamiliar with it, like blood pudding, singed sheep head, fermented shark and pickled rams’ testicles (yes, you read correctly).
This is the second time Stedji has produced a beer containing bits of whale. Last year it launched a beer for Thorri containing whale meat, which caused an online s***storm.
Unfortunately, the beer sold out quickly and I was unable to get hold of it during my visit to Iceland in June last year. However, a very knowledgeable salesperson at Vinbud, Iceland
