Saturday, April 22, 2006
Ben and Jerry's Pisses off a Lot of Drunks
That beloved Vermont ice cream giant has created a new flavor called "Black and Tan," which is meant to be a "celebration" of Irishness. I like to drink Black and Tans, it's a nice blend of Guiness flavor without all that icky stuff about Guiness. So it seems like a good idea right?
Well...it turns out that "Black and Tan" is also the name of an old-angry-extremist-violent-bigoted-dangerous-psychotic militia that was tied to the British police in Ireland at the turn of the last century. They were basically a bunch of guys who were black and tan uniforms and kicked a lot of Irish Catholic ass. Beating...killing...raping...stealing...the whole bit. They were evidently really really scary. None of which I knew. And evidently neither did Ben or Jerry (or Unilever the conglomerate that bought the company a few years ago).
Here's Ben and Jerry's apology.
This has also created all sorts of craziness on Junk Food Blog.
Read some of the comments on that site and you'll be nicely reminded of why the internet is scary. My favorite is the suggestion by an angry Irishman for a "Twin Towers Cherry Explosion" ice cream.
All of which leads me to wonder...can I no longer drink Black and Tans in good consceince. Am I disrespecting my Irish great-great grandfather (it's true)? And what do they call those drink in Ireland? Although I guess they don't need to water down their Guiness over there, they can take it.
That beloved Vermont ice cream giant has created a new flavor called "Black and Tan," which is meant to be a "celebration" of Irishness. I like to drink Black and Tans, it's a nice blend of Guiness flavor without all that icky stuff about Guiness. So it seems like a good idea right?Well...it turns out that "Black and Tan" is also the name of an old-angry-extremist-violent-bigoted-dangerous-psychotic militia that was tied to the British police in Ireland at the turn of the last century. They were basically a bunch of guys who were black and tan uniforms and kicked a lot of Irish Catholic ass. Beating...killing...raping...stealing...the whole bit. They were evidently really really scary. None of which I knew. And evidently neither did Ben or Jerry (or Unilever the conglomerate that bought the company a few years ago).
Here's Ben and Jerry's apology.
This has also created all sorts of craziness on Junk Food Blog.
Read some of the comments on that site and you'll be nicely reminded of why the internet is scary. My favorite is the suggestion by an angry Irishman for a "Twin Towers Cherry Explosion" ice cream.
All of which leads me to wonder...can I no longer drink Black and Tans in good consceince. Am I disrespecting my Irish great-great grandfather (it's true)? And what do they call those drink in Ireland? Although I guess they don't need to water down their Guiness over there, they can take it.
