A cider maker has been left outraged after the UK’s alcohol industry regulator threatened to ban one of its drinks because the name and logo is ‘too sexual’.
The Bearded Brewery, based in Cornwall, says the complaint is ‘utterly disgraceful’ – after alcohol trade body the Portman Group said the imagery, name and slogan could be seen as referring to the ‘pursuit of a young woman’s virginity’.
The cherry-flavoured Unshaven Maiden cider is apparently ‘too sexual’ – with its logo showing a mermaid figurehead on a pirate ship, her breasts partially covered by her long red beard and hair, and its slogan saying: ‘Search for the cherry’d treasure’.
Bearded Brewery co-founder Robbie Langouroux-Fay said the regulatory body has been trying to force him to ditch his CAMRA award-winning cider for a few years after a Guardian food and drink columnist first took offence at the name.
Since then, the 4 per cent ABV cider has been in the firing line for its overt ‘sexual content’.
A cider maker has been left outraged after the UK’s alcohol industry regulator banned one of its drinks because the name and logo (pictured) is ‘too sexual’
Robbie said: ‘I’m a dad of an 11-year-old and five-year-old girls. I’m a family man. The complaint is ridiculous. What the Portman Group have written back to us is quite shocking.
‘They’re implying that our product and our brewery support people looking to sleep with underage girls. It’s utterly disgraceful.
‘This is a dark place. It’s something we had not even thought of when we came up with the name. Who thinks that? It just reflects back on them. I told them as much.’
A statement from Matt Lambert, CEO of The Portman Group, insisted the trade body’s decision was ‘provisional’ rather than ‘final’, and that the brewer has the opportunity to appeal the decision.
The Bearded Brewery in St Mawgan, which was co-founded with Mark Long, has been making a name for itself for almost six years, trading on the beards, tattoos, bikers and pirates imagery since day one.
Among the ciders the brewery produces are the 6.2 per cent Storm Damage, the 5.5 per cent Swallows Rest and the 8 per cent Tanker Slapper as well as the Moustache Mango cider, Shaky Todd or Pink Fluffer.
However, it is the Unshaven Maiden which attracted the ire of the Portman Group with a formal hearing following a second complaint by another craft cider maker before Christmas.
In its letter to the Bearded Brewery, which has been seen by CornwallLive, the Portman Group said the mermaid was too prominent compared with the rest of the ship, and too life-like.
It also said the name and the image of a half-naked woman combined with the tagline ‘search for the cherry’d treasure’ was too sexual and could cause widespread offence.
The Bearded Brewery, based in Cornwall, says the complaint made by the Portman Group is ‘utterly disgraceful’. Pictured, founders Mark Long and Robbie Langouroux-Fay at the Bearded Brewery in St Mawgan with their cider ‘Unshaven Maiden’
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The complaint – dated November 2022 – that Unshaven Maiden is ‘unnecessarily sexual’, was made under the Code of Practice on the Naming, Packaging and Promotion of Alcoholic Drinks which states that a ‘drink, its packaging and promotional material should not in any direct or indirect way suggest any association with sexual activity or sexual success’.
It was also made under another article of the code that no drink should be produced that causes ‘serious or widespread offence’.
Robbie said he tried to argue that the bearded mermaid was in the context of his business’s name – Bearded Brewery – while the tagline is a play on the words ‘search for the buried treasure’ as well as a reference to the cherry flavour of the cider.
The letter from the Portman Group reads: ‘The panel noted that “maiden” could relate to a virgin or an unmarried young woman.
‘Furthermore, the panel considered this alongside the tagline “search for the cherry’d treasure”, which reinforced the perception that the name referred to a pursuit of a young woman’s virginity.
‘The overall impression conveyed by the product packaging meant that the overriding meaning communicated was a deliberate double entendre with strong sexual connotations.
‘Furthermore, the panel expressed concern that “search for the cherry’d treasure”, when understood in the wider context of searching for a young virgin woman, suggested that seeking out virgins was in some way acceptable.’
The Portland Group’s letter added: ‘When considering these elements in combination, the panel concluded that the name, the tagline and prominent depiction of the partially nude, life-like mermaid all linked to a sexual innuendo of hunting for a young woman’s virginity, and created an indirect association with sexual activity.
‘The panel concluded such messaging was offensive, and damaging in the wider context of gender stereotypes, which was out of place with societal values in 2022.’
The Portman Group upheld the complaint from last year’s preliminary hearing at a more recent meeting this month. Robbie said he’s filed one last appeal and is awaiting the outcome.
It is the second time the brewery has been in trouble over the name of its products.
In 2019, the cidermaker had to stop producing its 7.8 per cent Suicyder because it was deemed to portray a link between alcohol and suicide.
Robbie added: ‘We made that cider specifically to raise awareness and money for mental health charities like MIND and Man Down in Cornwall.
‘After the latest complaint, I honestly feel like making ciders that are as offensive as possible so they continue to ban us and give us free publicity. The whole thing is just ridiculous.’
Under the rules, drink makers have several choices about how to proceed. Most producers will make changes to their packaging to bring it in line with the code or voluntarily remove it from the UK market.
On its website, the Portman Group said that if producers do not take action within three months, the group can issue a retailer alert bulletin which would stop the sale of any problematic product.
