Calgary brewery pulls Karen Cherry Sour beer recognizing entitled, privileged white women

Common Crown Brewing has pulled its Karen Cherry Sour and issued an apology for being "tone deaf to racial developments" (Instagram)

Calgary — The team at the Common Crown Brewing Company in Calgary has pulled its Karen Cherry Sour and issued an apology after concerns were raised regarding the beer's name.

The Calgary brewery released its first sour beer this month as a celebration of 'Karen', the internet-coined name given to the stereotypical entitled, privileged white woman. The brewery's social media promotion of the beer used phrases that included 'Can we speak to a manager?' and the depiction on the label was of a fair-skinned woman with the crown of the Common Crown Brewing logo resting on her head.

The misguided attempt to be humorous drew swift criticism on social media as the name appeared to exonerate the actions of a select group who have stood in opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement.

On Friday, Common Crown announced its decision to remove the beer from store shelves and issued the following apology:

We wish to thank those who reached out and brought to our attention the error we have made in our recent release. We realize that our intent of the Karen label is insignificant at this juncture. Unfortunately, The Karen Cherry Sour missed the mark, and we promise to do better. Being tone deaf to racial developments is not an excuse, and we will work harder to stay informed and up to date on escalating situations. Thank you to those who sought to educate and inform us, and help us to recognize our error. We read through all of your comments and messages as a team. Moving forward, we will be working to do better, educate ourselves and collaborate with communities who support inclusion and diversity.

The Karen Cherry Sour has been pulled from shelves and is no longer available for sale. While this is just a small step in understanding our wrong, we are committed to moving forward and doing better.

Thank you.

CTV News reached out to the owner of Common Crown Brewing Co., Damon Moreau, for comment on the situation and he said the decision on the product name was made as a result of a team effort and the entire team apologizes for the mistake.

"We recognize the issue and the error," he said.

A majority of the product line was pre-sold and scheduled for delivery Friday, but Moreau says that's no longer happening. He says he's spoken with the company's licence holders that would have received the shipments and they have expressed their understanding of the situation.