( in German) is a German beer brewed by Tommy Frenck. It is a

pilsner Pilsner (also pilsener or simply pils) is a type of pale lager. It takes its name from the Bohemian city of Plzeň (), where the world's first pale lager (now known as Pilsner Urquell) was produced in 1842 by Pilsner Urquell Brewery. History ...

with a 4.9% alcohol volume. The brand generated controversy for its use of

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

-style imagery.

Design

The beer uses a brown label, which media reports alleged to be a reference to the ''

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; or 'Storm Troopers') was the original paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and early 1930s. I ...

'' (SA, also known as Brownshirts). The logo comprises a

Reichsadler The ' (; "Imperial Eagle") is the heraldic eagle, derived from the Roman eagle standard, used by the Holy Roman Emperors, later by the Emperors of Austria and in modern coat of arms of Austria and Germany. The term is also translated as "Rei ...

eagle and

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

with the name of the beer below it in Gothic script.

History

The beer was originally offered for sale on

Neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

websites in January 2020. Frenck said that he came up with the idea after the police enforced an alcohol ban at a neo-Nazi festival at

Vessra Abbey Vessra Abbey () was a Premonstratensian monastery in the village also named Kloster Veßra in the district of Hildburghausen, Thuringia, Germany. The monastery was founded in the 1130s by Gotebold II, Count of Henneberg, and his wife Liutgard o ...

. In the same year, the beer was sold in a

liquor store A liquor store is a retail business that predominantly sells prepackaged alcoholic beverages, including liquors (typically in bottles), wine or beer, usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom ...

in the town of

Bad Bibra Bad Bibra () is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated northwest of Naumburg. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") An der Finne. Since July 2009 it has included the former m ...

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

, where it sold out. This activity was discovered by the District Chief, Götz Ulrich, on

Holocaust Memorial Day A Holocaust memorial day or Holocaust remembrance day is an annual observance to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust, the genocide of six million Jews and of millions of other Holocaust victims by Nazi Germany and its allies. Many countries ...

. The beer was being sold at €18.88 a case, which was understood to be Neo-Nazi code with "18" standing for "AH" (

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

) and "88" standing for "

Heil Hitler The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute, or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened han ...

." The police were called to investigate because of this Nazi-style imagery. Since the symbols used on the beer label are not banned under the ''

Strafgesetzbuch section 86a The German (StGB; ) in section § 86a outlaws use of symbols of "unconstitutional organizations" and terrorism outside the contexts of "art or science, research or teaching". The law does not name the individual symbols to be outlawed, and ...

'' and no

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

s appeared, the police ruled that the product was not illegal. The liquor store was an independent

franchisee Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busines ...

of Getränke-Quelle, which ordered the shop not to sell any more and terminated their franchise agreement. Frenck had been selling Deutsches Reichsbräu at his own pub in the meantime. The Scottish brewer

BrewDog BrewDog is a Multinational corporation, multinational brewery, Distillation, distillery and pub chain based in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. With production of over 100 million litres, BrewDog is the seventh-largest beer brand in Britain, ...

responded to this incident by creating an advert posted on a trailer parked outside Frenck's pub, which proclaimed, "Wenn du nur eine Hautfarbe magst, kannst Du mit mehr als 30 Sorten eh nichts anfangen" ("If you only like one skin colour, you can't do anything with more than 30 varieties anyway").

References

{{Reflist Beer brands of Germany Food and drink introduced in 2020 Neo-Nazism in Germany