Dear Editor:
I am writing in response to the letter titled “No to Stalin beer; join the protest” (February 12), which addresses the labeling of our Russian Imperial Stout. We appreciate the feedback from the community, and would like to assure your readers that this matter has already been addressed by our company.
We issued a formal apology to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, which first brought this issue to our attention. In that apology, we stated: “Our intentions as a company have always been to create provocative labels, without offending or marginalizing any individual or group. Unfortunately in this instance, we failed in that pursuit, and for that we sincerely apologize.”
We have already undertaken steps to remove the hammer and sickle logo from our label, and all new cans that we produce will have this offending imagery removed. As well, I would like to point out that the label featuring a caricature of Joseph Stalin was taken out of use almost five years ago. Unfortunately, someone came across an image of this old label and posted it in a private Facebook group, which led to a misunderstanding about our current label. I can assure you and your readers that we no longer use Stalin’s image in any form of marketing or labeling, and have not done so in many years.
Finally, we would like to thank the Ukrainian community for voicing their opinions, and we hope we can put this unfortunate misstep behind us.
Burlington, Ontario
The letter-writer is manager, corporate sales and marketing, for the Nickel Brook Brewing Co.