Bottles of a popular beer under the brand name "Sweet Baby Jesus" were pulled from the shelves of a Ohio grocery store after customers complained about its name.
Heinen's Grocery Store in Cleveland decided to stop selling the beer brand, a chocolate peanut-butter porter manufactured by DuClaw Brewing Co. in Baltimore, Maryland.
"We have thousands and thousands of items in and out of our store all the time. For us it's a no-comment situation," said Heinen's market director Kathryn Falls, according to Cleveland.com.
Dave Benfield, DuClaw's founder, said some customers complained about having the word "Jesus" on the beer label.
"We occasionally get complaints about Sweet Baby Jesus. Some people are not happy about the word 'Jesus' being on a beer," he said.
He said they are not trying to malign Jesus.
"When they contact us by email our usual position is we don't respond. We know no matter what they say we are not going to put them at ease and it's not our position to upset anyone. ... When they call we talk to them. We are not trying to offend Jesus," he said.
According to DuClaw, "Sweet Baby Jesus" was first brewed in 2011 and is characterized as "lightly sweet, malty flavour accented by rich flavours of chocolate, coffee and peanut butter, and balanced by a subtle hop character and moderate 6.5% abv."
Benfield said it's up to stores' decision whether to sell beers like "Sweet Baby Jesus."
"We are interested in keeping the beer on the shelves; it's what we do ... Anything that incites (consumers) on one side has, inevitably, another side that might not like it. Ultimately it's the store's decision and we have no influence. We're happy with the success of the beer," he said.
"Sweet Baby Jesus" beer is selling very well in Cleveland.
