News

Florida brewery under fire for its Epi Pen Peanut Butter Ale

05 April 2024 By Sarah Neish

Playalinda Brewing Company in Florida has removed the Epi Pen Ale product from its website after the beer maker was slammed for mocking people who have life-threatening nut allergies.

The Florida brewer first launched its Epi Pen Peanut Butter Ale several years ago, but has attracted widespread criticism after it posted a photograph of a stack of the beers for ‘Peanut Butter Week’ (29 March-7 April).

Following backlash, which branded the brewer “discriminatory” and “ignorant”, the ale has been removed from the website and at least one Facebook post relating to the product deleted from the brewer’s account.

The choice of name for the 5.3% ABV, peanut-flavoured ale has been called “insensitive”, with one TripAdvisor commenter, who visited the Playalinda brewery, writing:

“Walked out when we saw the ‘epi pen’ peanut butter beer option. I’m guessing whoever thought it was funny to name it that has never seen their child almost die from an allergic reaction. Disgusting.”

An EpiPen is a lifesaving auto injector, which delivers epinephrine to prevent an individual from going into anaphylactic shock.

As reported by CBC, the Elijah-Alavi Foundation, formed by the family of a boy who died from a severe food allergy, wrote on X: “Calling a beer ‘Epi-Pen,’ especially if it’s peanut-flavoured, is absurd and insensitive. It downplays the life-saving role of EpiPens.”

Dark humour

Other commentors have praised the “dark humour” of the beer’s name, with some even applauding the transparency of the ingredient list as the name of the ale could serve as a deterrent for those with serious nut allergies.

“I’m all for it. Complete transparency to the point of blatancy,” wrote one parent, whose son has a nut allergy. “This would stop my son from drinking the ale.”

However, Lianne Mandelbaum, Allergic Living’s airlines correspondent, wrote in a comment piece about the beer that “The adage: ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me’ does not apply to food allergies.”