To spotlight global gender injustice, independent feminist craft beer brand Muschicraft has created a new beverage called The Most Illegal Beer.
The beer intentionally breaks laws from more than 50 countries around the world, simply because it was made by women.
Despite so many advances in women’s rights in recent years, laws still exist in more than a third of countries that prohibit women from doing things that men are allowed to do. They restrict women’s choice of jobs, as well as dictating how they should look and behave, serving as a harsh reminder that gender inequality is still a live issue in 2024.
Sophie Tschannett, founder of the feminist craft beer brand, Muschicraft, said: “With The Most Illegal Beer, Muschicraft sets out to shine a spotlight on the outdated, sexist laws hidden in the legal systems worldwide, and call for faster progress toward gender equality.”
Women from Russia, Uruguay, Italy, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, the USA, and various other countries came together to make the beer. Intentionally involving women at every step of production and distribution led the beer to violate one or more laws from their countries of origin. These included: producing alcohol (illegal in Lebanon); cleaning running machinery (illegal in Uruguay, and nine other countries); and carrying heavy beer (illegal in Russia and 22 other countries).
Some laws were even broken just by the female brewery workers wearing make-up and low-cut jeans, or sipping the beer while working as a bartender.
Brew day at Vagabund, in Berlin
Sophie said: “Our beer was created as a bold provocation against the patriarchal world. In this world, the standard is male: Beer is the drink for ‘men’, rules are written by ‘men’.
“We want to question and challenge all these. Changes always start from conversations. My intention is to give people the topic of conversation with this beer. They should talk about gender equality and how we can achieve it.”
Launching on International Women’s Day, sales of The Most Illegal Beer will raise money to support Women For Women International, a global organisation that fights for gender equality. The beer will also be sent to ministries of justice and legislative bodies in countries with prohibitive laws, with the aim of driving change.
The beer was brewed in partnership with the Berlin brewery Vagabund. It is available to buy online.
