Icelandic Brewery Debuts Beer Made With Endangered Whale Testicles
A brewery in Iceland has angered conservationists by revealing a new beer that is made using the testicles of endangered fin whales, and it isn’t the first time they’ve released such a provocative brew.
The Stedji brewery concocted the unusual beer for Thorri, the country’s mid-winter festival, IFLScience reports. The beer, Hvalur 2, utilizes the testicles of fin whales, which are first smoked in a traditional fashion using dried sheep dung. Fin whales are considered to be endangered, and are classified as such by the conservation Red List.
Anyone up for a beer challenge?Try Icelandic beer made from whale testicles. http://t.co/JBJgkUdIzL #beer @LeahHyslop pic.twitter.com/L2BTpVSMvP
— Chef & Young (@ChefandYoung) January 15, 2015
The provocative beer is being released a year after a similar brew was developed by the same company. Last year, Stedji revealed a beer made with whale meat for the festival, according to the Guardian. At the time, conservationists decried the move as an attempt to promote the whaling industry in Iceland.
According to Vanessa Williams-Grey, anti-whaling campaigner at Whale and Dolphin Conservation, this year’s brew was designed to send a signal to environmentalists.
“This is a calculated move, not only to dishonor 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. 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.”
A representative of the brewery, Dagbjartur Ariliusson, defended the decision to release the beer, openly questioning the assertion that fin whales are endangered.
“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,” he observed.
“According to our research the fin whale in North Atlantic is not at risk of extinction.”
A world of no. Iceland brewery makes beer using endangered fin #whale testicles: http://t.co/A1eGto0ZDv pic.twitter.com/4lIJ7zj73V
— Greenpeace USA (@greenpeaceusa) January 13, 2015
Earlier this month, nearly 70 people in Mozambique died at a funeral after drinking a traditional beer. As the Inquisitr previously related, the beer was laced with crocodile bile, which can be used as a poison.
Ariliusson went on to note that in the past, Icelandic people utilized all available ingredients to prepare food. During the festival, he said, they consume a variety of dishes, including rams’ testicles and rotten sharks. He asserted that the brewery believes their decision to use smoked whale testicles in their beer is in keeping with the spirit of Thorri.
[Image via the Register]
