Ben & Jerry's sorry for 'Black & Tan' upset

seriously!!!

Completely absurd. Who stands to gain from this? Greed is the only motive I can come up with.

I could totally have understood had the Black and Tans been around in the last 40 years, but come on, it was in the '20s. I hope I can still get some.

Mykola,

While I understand the spirit of your argument, I disagree with you. If you were releasing your "Hamas" and "Sharon" ice cream flavors over 70 years after the demise of the group and the individual (and you assume they continue to be despised among the people of Israel and Palestine respectively), perhaps that would be closer to this. That said, I get your point and think it still misses the mark as to my problem with the protests.

According to Wikipedia:

The style is believed to have originated in pubs in the British Isles with drinkers ordering a mix of Guinness and Bass ale. The name is first recorded in 1889, though an earlier origin of an 18th century blend of porter and pale ale has been conjectured.

Also according to Wikipedia:

The Black and Tans, more properly known as the Royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force, was one of two paramilitary forces employed by the Royal Irish Constabulary from 1920 to 1921, to suppress revolution in Ireland by targeting the IRA and Sinn Féin.

So, it appears that the term "Black and Tan" had been in use as the name of a beverage for at least 31 years before the arrival of the group at the source of this ridiculous uproar.

The article doesn't even say who they had to apologize to. Was it a general shout across the ocean? These people are offended by the term as applied to a beer drink -- which akj shows predated the militia -- so, do they picket at every bar and pub that serves it? Do they protest the 35 beer manufacturers in the US who bottle Black & Tan style beers? Stupid.

It would be like releasing "Hamas" flavored ice cream in Israel, or "Sharon" flavored ice cream in Palestine

If you were releasing your "Hamas" and "Sharon" ice cream flavors over 70 years after the demise of the group and the individual (snip), perhaps that would be closer to this.

and if you were releasing it in Austrailia or something. The Black & Tan flavor was not available in Ireland:

The ice cream, available only in the United States

Simple. One has alcohol, one doesn't. Those who are doing the drinks are too happy to be PC, while the ones sitting in front of the TV doing nothing and chucking icecream are already depressed. :)

Still though, I'm going back to my original point of it being only ice cream :)

Except Nazis are unmistakable as anything other than Nazis, while, "Black and Tan" seems just like two colors or an alcoholic drink. At least in America, where this flavor was released, it is a tertiary meaning. Your example does make me at least understand where you and others are coming from.

Why isn't anyone complaining about the drink's name?

You're a legend in your own right insert_name_here. I understand all too well Mykola becuase I was born and grew up in the country it all happened in (read above in my previous comment) and even for me I find it silly how someone could find it offensive. Maybe I'm the youth of a new generation, the generation that is now gone and past bigotry and religious disputes but whatever I am, I still find it silly.

I agree with insert_name_here, the ice cream was named after the drink, and coincidentally had the same name as the militia.

I do see why people would be upset over it, but you have to remembered it was named after the drink. It's called "Black and Tan" not "The Black and Tans".

Just a side question for John Patrick, how is finding ice cream offensive bigotry?

but the drink - a mix of two irish brews - is a direct reference to the militia. furthermore, it's not a regular marketted drink - you don't go out and buy a black and tan, you buy a guiness and a...what's the other one? bass? And then you mix them. Like a sex-on-the-beach or a red-headed-slut, it's a colloquial name for a drink that people use, but you wouldn't expect to see those on ben-and-jerry's ice cream, right?

I'm saying I understand why some people find it offensive - I personally don't, but perhaps if I grew up in ireland (not belfast, ye west briton! ;)) and heard stories from my grandfather all day I might find it a little hard to swallow.

I don't mean to make this a controversial point, but I guess I can't see how just because a generation of state-sponsored terror didn't hurt you directly you have zero sympathy for those who find it inapproriate for an ice cream to be named after it by a generally progressive company.

At least ben and jerry agree with me, so I know I'm not totally barking up the wrong tree here.

The style is believed to have originated in pubs in the British Isles with drinkers ordering a mix of Guinness and Bass ale. The name is first recorded in 1889, though an earlier origin of an 18th century blend of porter and pale ale has been conjectured.

-Wikipedia

1889, the name of the drink is not a reference to the militia. It's a coincidence.

Wow, I stand corrected - that's interesting. I wonder if they nicknamed the militia after the drinks?

Lankafool: For those that remember "The Black and Tans" for what they did, if they were offended they were thought of as being Irish and if they were in praise of them they were thought of as being British. Because of a whole "religion war" going on in my country anything offense from one side to another was seen as "an act of Bigotry"

Granted the above is not relevant to ice cream but for those interested in learning more, here is some useful information - The Black and Tans.

I see, just wondering.

By the way, I don't want to take credit for finding that the drink had it's name before the war, akj originally pointed it out.

Myk:

it's not a regular marketted drink - you don't go out and buy a black and tan, you buy a guiness and a...what's the other one? bass? And then you mix them.

There are 35 brewers listed in this chart who bottle a black and tan style beer. James says he's tried the Yuengling. I've tried the Saranac, and it isn't bad, but it's not the same as a nice creamy Guinness floating on top of a golden Bass. I'd rather just buy the ingredients for the real thing.

Mykola,

In the same spirit, don't take my comments above as personal attacks - I've been known to play devil's advocate on more than one occasion. It is only that I'm completely fed up with some of what I perceive overzealous political-correctness on marginally important issues. Enough is enough. I'm slightly bothered that Ben and Jerry felt the need to respond to (not to mention apologize for) this.

No offense taken, not in the slightest! ..... Many people don't know the past of Irish/British culture so they find it silly how an ice cream name can be found offensive and those that are from Ireland, north or south, that the name strikes fear into, should not even remember it because most of them were not born at the time it had happened.

I know that The Black and Tans were a fierce group of mercenaries and terrorised many people but the past is the past but still some people bring it up and get angry about it and wherever and whenever they see the name mentioned they get offended. I find it quite amusing and I'm enjoying just reading this article and its comments, I'm even searching google for further history on the black and tans because of it and educating myself further to what is being discussed here.

Oh and thank you for the kind words Mykola :) My generation, the ones steering away from bigotry and hatred, are hard to find. I have many friends from both religion groups whom I find very dear to me, they're excellent people and I treat them as human beings - I can't for the life of me see why some people can't.

Yeah, I noticed. I Googled around and I found a couple of blogs with a couple of complaints and a bunch of people telling the complainers to take it easy -- kind of like what's going on here. The Ben & Jerry's site, however doesn't list a press release with any apology. Maybe it just hasn't made it there yet.

I think that is a bit different. At least in the Rice math question case, it could be reasonably expected that the person creating the question is aware of the black people + watermelon stereotype. I doubt it could be reasonably expected that a bunch of hippies from Vermont would know of a short-lived militant group that existed 85 years ago in Ireland, especially given that the Black and Tan drink has existed without controversy for so long.

Actually - I am a highly educated individual and have never made a correlation between watermelon and African Americans as being a racist thing. However, I am well aware of the meaning of Black & Tan - and of the drink's very controversial name. I still think that both cases fall in the same vein of over enthusiastic Political Correctness.

Besides, isn't the Vermonster pagan idolitry?

HAHAHA, wow I hope your kidding.