Vladimir Putin 'not for gays' protest beer launched by Scottish brewery

Trumplestiltskin · February 5, 2014

Vladimir Putin 'not for gays' protest beer launched by Scottish brewery BrewDog

'Hello, my name is Vladimir' beer has gone on sale to coincide with the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics

HEATHER SAUL

Wednesday 05 February 2014

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A Scottish brewery has launched a ‘not for gays' beer in protest at Vladimir Putin’s anti-gay laws, and have even sent a crate to the Russian leader himself.

The limited-edition ‘Hello, My Name is Vladimir’ beer features a Warhol-esque impression of Vladimir Putin wearing make-up on its label and the satirical *not for gays small print across the bottom.

BrewDog, the brewery responsible for creating the ‘protest beer’ included the following description on the labels: “Hello, my name is Vladimir. I am 100 per cent hetero and will pass laws to prove it.

"Drinking me gives you energy, ignorance and dogmatism required to shoot a deer (with your top off) and pass internationally denounced, discriminatory legislation (top optional) before you've even had your caviar breakfast."

James Watt, co-founder of BrewDog said they produced the beer, which went on sale shortly before the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics begins, as a protest against the President's gay laws and to “hold up a mirror to discriminatory legislation signed off by Mr Putin.”

Brewdog have sent a crate of the beer to Vladimir Putin himself

He told The Independent: “We sent a case of beer to the Kremlin, as well as leaving beer at the Russian Consulate in Edinburgh and the Russian Embassy in London. We've not heard anything from Mr Putin, but we expect he’s out petting a leopard somewhere, probably with his top off.”

Mr Watt described the public response to the beer as overwhelmingly positive. "We've had tens of thousands of tweets about it - there is a lot of support for the beer and the cause", he added.

On their website, BrewDog say their core beliefs are: "freedom of expression, freedom of speech and a dogged (no pun intended) passion for doing what we love."

“The sick, twisted legislation brought about in Russia that prevents people from living their true lives is something we didn't want to just sit back and not have an opinion on.

Fifty per cent of beer sales will go to charitable organisations supporting oppressed minorities.

The beer is available online and in BrewDog's have twelve pubs across the UK. Not ones to shy away from controversy, the company also launched a Viagra- laced beer to mark the Royal wedding in 2011, called the Royal Virility Performance.