Men gripping on to brutal chauvinism name whiskey Toxic Masculinity
Men gripping on to brutal chauvinism name whiskey Toxic Masculinity
Words: Shamim de Brún
A Nevada based spirit company Firebrand sell whiskey they’ve creatively named Toxic Masculinity.
Approved by the US Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the company’s tagline is unironically “Tasteful, smooth and unapologetically strong. Like you“. The team call their logo the “most thought-provoking logo ever to hit the spirits industry”. Their other tagline is “The only place you will find Toxic Masculinity is in this bottle. Other than that. It doesn’t exist.”
The venture was inspired by the 2019 Gillette razor add which hoped to combat toxic masculinity. They say, “Identity and gender politics don’t help anyone. They need to stop. Our small contribution will be to help ridicule the absurd term “toxic masculinity” out of existence. From here forward, “Toxic Masculinity” is just the name of a great whiskey.” Ironically releasing this whiskey means they are now fighting in the gender wars they want to be stopped.
The Firebrand Spirits hyperbolically say, “We went into the liquor business to save the world”. With two-year-old rye, that’s not even old enough to be called whiskey in Ireland. The website acknowledges, “The right mash bill and proper distilling are of course critical to creating a fine whiskey” but does not mention where their young spirit was distilled. It is, however, bottled in Iowa.
The team behind the venture includes a man dubbed “Toxic Jeff”. The “most toxic man in the world” is the “go-to tasting man” whose pallet has been influenced by “participation in six foreign wars”. The team also includes an “extra toxic mansplainer”, an MK18 lover, and a “Patagonian BBQ specialist”,; all of whom call themselves “concerned fathers”.
Seeing as it doesn’t meet Ireland’s requirements to be sold as a whiskey, Toxic Masculinity is unlikely to land on our shores anytime soon.
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