Turning Whales Into Suds: Icelandic Beer Outrages Activists

[n2doc]

By David Kirby


Whale and dolphin advocates are up in arms over—and nauseated by—Iceland’s newest beverage: whale beer. Along with barley, water, and yeast, the brew is made with whale meal, the byproduct of processing the marine animal’s meat and oil.

Created by the Steðjar brewery and the fin whaling company Hvalur, both based in Iceland, the product launch is tied to the Icelandic festival Thorrablot, which celebrates the Norse god Thor.

“What is considered culinary novelty to some is really an affront to the rest of the world's moral sensibilities,” says Courtney Vail of Whale and Dolphin Conservation. “The interests of those producing this beer remain in stark contrast to the majority that view whales as beings in need of permanent protection, rather than consumed for momentary pleasure.”

Hvalur, however, is touting the beer as a health food, because “whale meal is very protein rich, and has almost no fat.” No stranger to the wrath of animal rights activists, the whaling outfit was the target of extensive outrage when it produced whale-meat dog food and, on a separate occasion, used whale-oil-based fuel to power the very ships that go out and slaughter more of the mammals.


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http://news.yahoo.com/turning-whales-suds-icelandic-beer-outrages-activists-015111566.html

[jmowreader]

1. Beer advocates should be enraged by this too

Meat and meat byproducts do not belong in beer.

[dipsydoodle]

2. wtf

That is disgusting.