Hell's Basement Brewery, based in the Canadian province of Alberta, ended up issuing an apology after becoming aware what exactly a Maori word they used to name their beer actually means.
According to CBC News, the brewery released their "Huruhuru (The Feather) New Zealand Hopped Pale Ale" two years ago.
Earlier this month, however, TV personality Te Hamua Nikora has revealed that "Huruhuru" means "pubic hair" in te reo, the language spoken by the Maori people.
Sharing his thoughts on the subject in a Facebook video, Nikora also mentioned a “new shop in Wellington” called "Huruhuru Authentic Leather".
"When the Maori look at the name of your store, they're not going to see 'feather' or soft leather, they're going to see 'pubes,'" he remarked.
Nikora also advised not to call one's beer “pubic hairs unless you make it out of pubic hairs”.
In response, the founder and general manager of Hell's Basement Brewery, Mike Patriquin, announced via an emailed statement that they didn't mean to offend anyone, and that "the interpretation was intended as 'feather' – meaning the beer itself is light as a feather and this is also stated in the name", the media outlet adds
"We acknowledge that we did not consider the commonplace use of the term huruhuru as a reference to pubic hair, and that consultation with a Maori representative would have been a better reference than online dictionaries”, he reportedly wrote. "We wish to make especially clear that it was not our intent to infringe upon, appropriate, or offend the Maori culture or people in any way; to those who feel disrespected, we apologize."
Patriquin also said that the brewery is moving to rebrand the product in question and “will attempt to do better in the future”, as the media outlet put it.
