Chicago Retailer Drops SweetWater Brew Over 'Sexist, Borderline Racist' Bottle

Does SweetWater Brewing Company push the envelope too far with its Happy Ending imperial stout? One Chicago retailer thinks so, reports the Chicago Tribune. SweetWater recently entered the Windy City market, but Binny's Beverage Depot manager Adam Vavrick won't carry Happy Ending in his store.

The Happy Ending bottle art includes a box of tissues, the silhouette of a geisha, the infamous "O-face" from Office Space, and a description that includes the phrase, "sporting a huge dry hopped stiffy resulting in an explosive finish!" For those who don't get the joke, a quick Internet search for "happy ending" will make all the references pretty clear. To push it even further, SweetWater sent out promotional packages of Happy Ending with small bottles of hand lotion — get it?

Vavrick told the Tribune he thought it all was a bit much.

"This label is about a female Asian sex worker manually masturbating a man to orgasm and cleaning up the ejaculate with tissues," Vavrick said. "Why is that appropriate on a beer label?"

SweetWater founder Freddy Bensch told the Tribune that he didn't mean any harm with the name and label, and he would try to make amends: "We're going to be thoughtful about it and make it right."