{"id":1898,"date":"2010-10-23T09:12:12","date_gmt":"2010-10-23T15:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1898"},"modified":"2010-10-27T12:16:46","modified_gmt":"2010-10-27T18:16:46","slug":"brewer-reconsiders-witchs-wit-label","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1898","title":{"rendered":"Brewer Reconsiders Witches’ Wit Label"},"content":{"rendered":"

I stood in Cheers Liquor Mart<\/a>, a supermarket of things alcoholic in Colorado Springs, last Wednesday wondering if I should try a bottle of Witches’ Wit beer.<\/p>\n

The “controversial”<\/a> Witches’ Wit beer, that is, with the witch-burning scene on the label. The brewery had defended the design, and even the artist commented on one blog, in essence, “How dare you insult my artistic vision?! If you could see the painting full size, you would understand.” (Can’t find the link\u2014will add it if I do.)\u00a0 But of course, it’s bottle-label size.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been accused of inspiring violence against women, and we have been compared to the violence in Darfur,\u201d said Sage Osterfeld, a spokesman for Port Brewing. \u201cIt has run the gamut from people saying politely, \u2018This is offensive to pagans,\u2019 to people saying we are responsible for all that is wrong in the world.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now this tempest in a beer glass has even reached The New York Times<\/em><\/a>. Bowing to the pressure campaign started by Vicki Noble<\/a>, the brewery will have a contest to choose a new label.<\/p>\n

Is the design “hate imagery” against today’s Pagan Witches? Honestly, I don’t think so.\u00a0 And if it is, it is nothing to do with the modern religion of Pagan Witchcraft in its various forms. (If you want to argue that it is anti-women, go ahead.)<\/p>\n

When it comes to the word “witch,” we want it both ways\u2014safe and <\/em>edgy. As the Dutch scholar L\u00e9on van Gulik<\/a> writes in a paper that will appear in the forthcoming issue of The Pomegranate,<\/em><\/p>\n

The acquired taste of Paganism is rationalized by upholding a self-image that perpetuates a tension with the secular world without, and sometimes even the non-initiated world within. This tension can for instance be observed in the clinging to the term \u201cwitch\u201d in Wiccan circles, the meaning of which clearly differs between insiders\u2014and outsiders.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There in the aisle at Cheers, however, I decided not to reinforce the current label imagery of Witch’s Wit. Because right next to it was another beer with a folk-Catholic-themed label: Maudite (“the damned one”) <\/a>Belgian-style ale from Quebec<\/a>. I acquired a taste for Maudite when in Montr\u00e9al about a year ago, but had not seen any in a Colorado store until now, so into the shopping cart it went.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: No, apparently they are going to consider changing the label<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I stood in Cheers Liquor Mart, a supermarket of things alcoholic in Colorado Springs, last Wednesday wondering if I should try a bottle of Witches’ Wit beer. The “controversial” Witches’ Wit beer, that is, with the witch-burning scene on the label. The brewery had defended the design, and even the artist commented on one blog, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,95,29],"class_list":["post-1898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-american-religion","tag-journalism","tag-witchcraft"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-uC","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11849,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=11849","url_meta":{"origin":1898,"position":0},"title":"The Witch’s Hat: Where Did It Come From?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Abby Cox tracks the history of the black, conical, flat-brimmed hat with a deteour into eighteenth-century dressmaking and other things: \"Swedish witches are defnitely cottagecore witches, and I'm here for that.\" If you are in a hurry and wish to skip patriarchy, etc., start at the 11-minute mark. Not discussed:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"culture\"","block_context":{"text":"culture","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=culture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10351,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10351","url_meta":{"origin":1898,"position":1},"title":"A Survey on Pagan Metaphysics and Ethics","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This comes from Gwendolyn Reese, whose work has appeared several times in The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies. She writes, The purposes of this study are to explore the relationship between how the metaphysical and theological beliefs held by Pagans\/Witches\/Heathens relate to each other and to beliefs about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"academia\"","block_context":{"text":"academia","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=academia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12603,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=12603","url_meta":{"origin":1898,"position":2},"title":"Interview with Helen Berger, Leading Scholar of Paganism","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"At his blog, now called On New and Alternative Religions, Ethan Doyle While interviews Helen Berger, one of the leading American scholars of contemporary Paganism. Since completing her PhD research on the early modern witch trials in the 1980s, Berger has devoted her career to the sociological analysis of modern-day\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"academia\"","block_context":{"text":"academia","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=academia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/helen-berger.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":558,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=558","url_meta":{"origin":1898,"position":3},"title":"Under Southern Skies","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 13, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Doug Ezzy, sociologist and co-editor of Researching Paganisms also edited an anthology by \"Down Under\" Witches called Practising the Witch's Craft: Real Magic Under a Southern Sky. He writes to say that it is now available from Amazon for the rest of the world. It ranges from Gardnerians to Goddess\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Australia\"","block_context":{"text":"Australia","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=australia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4639,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=4639","url_meta":{"origin":1898,"position":4},"title":"Tempest in a Pointy Hat","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Organizers of this year's Pagan Pride Day in Denver, Colorado, want to set a Guinness World Record for the largest number of people dressed as pointy-hat witches.\u00a0 One of the organizers posted to a statewide mailing list, I think that we should let witches in non-black hats participate, too...I was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1482,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1482","url_meta":{"origin":1898,"position":5},"title":"Ten Worst Movies about Witches and Pagans","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Blogger Gus diZerega polled his readers on \"The Ten Worst Movies Depicting Witches and Other Pagans.\" Readers differed on The Craft: \"As a movie, I don't think it was too bad. But their portrayal of witches as goth teenage girls with (somewhat severe) psychological problems just rubs me the wrong\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"movies\"","block_context":{"text":"movies","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=movies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1898"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1900,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1898\/revisions\/1900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}