We all know that it's not a good night of drinking without descending into a rowdy political fight where you threaten to disown half of your closest friends. So it makes sense that there should be a beer or cider that can back up our own political beliefs right?
That's the idea behind Sparkke, the socially conscious start-up craft brewery which is tackling divisive social issues through the almost universally loved medium of alcohol.
The company is run by a bunch of nine diverse women hailing from Adelaide who hope to add to the conversation around important issues such as consent and asylum seeker issues.
Some of their socially-conscious cans include:
- "Consent Can't Come After You Do" – a cider tackling sexual consent
- "Change The Date" – a Pilsner targeting Australia Day
- "Boundless Plains To Share" – a hearty ginger beer demanding better treatment of asylum seekers
- "Nipples are Nipples" – a lemonade addressing gender equality and supporting #freethenipple
While clearly there's a temptation to simply pour your drink over someone who doesn't agree with the cans' message, the women want the cans to do just the opposite – provoke meaningful, civilised discussion – something we could all benefit a great deal from.
"We realise it's a totally new way to tackle social issues, but if you think about it, the greatest conversation starter of our generation – and most generations – is a social drink," head brewer Agi Gajic said.
"We want to get people talking about important issues in relaxed settings where the real conversations happen – and at the same time get a smile or two."
The gang of nine women hope that the brand can crack open the male-dominated beer industry and are equally committed to producing a high quality brew.
But their commitment to these causes goes deeper than a mere label. They're donating 10 per cent of their profits to a range of community organisations:
"Australia's male dominated beer industry alone is worth about $4.3 billion pa. If the big players donated even half of what we're doing percentage wise, that would see around a quarter of a billion dollars every year being directed to community organisations who are fighting for a fairer country."
To get it off the ground, they're aiming to sell a lofty 10,000 cases of their various brews so they can hit your local pub or bottle-o by this summer.
There's nothing like punctuating your four minute long rant about consent by sculling a can of "Consent Can't Come After You Do". That is power my friends.
This article first appeared via The Vocal.