(Samajweekly) Buffalo (New York) based breweries— Pressure Drop Brewing and Big Ditch Brewing Company—apologized and discontinued their collaboration beer “Aqua Shiva” named after Hindu deity; within few hours of Hindu protest, who had called it “highly inappropriate”.
Matt Kahn, President & Co-Founder of Big Ditch Brewing Company, in a “joint response” email to distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed (who spearheaded the protest), wrote: We very recently became aware that our collaborative beer, Aqua Shiva, was offensive to Hindus. We deeply apologize to the Hindu community for this poor choice of our beer name and artwork. We simply did not put enough time into thinking about this beer name and artwork and what the use of the name Shiva means to the Hindu community. This beer is discontinued and will never be made again…
Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention, as we will learn from it. Again, we deeply apologize to you and to the Hindu community; we meant no harm; Kahn added.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, in a statement in Nevada today, thanked Pressure Drop Brewing and Big Ditch Brewing Company for understanding the concerns of Hindu community, which thought that placing image of Lord Shiva on a beer can was quite insensitive.
Rajan Zed suggested that companies should send their senior executives for training in religious and cultural sensitivity so that they had an understanding of the feelings of customers and communities when introducing new products or launching advertising campaigns...
https://www.samajweekly.com/new-york-breweries-apologize-discontinue-lord-shiva-beer-within-hours-of-hindu-protest/
