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This new Indiana brewery named beer after Flint water crisis, met with backlash

Some of beer names include "Flint Michigan Tap Water," "Black Beer Matters," "White Guilt" and "Mass Graves."
Credit: Thinkstock

LAKEVILLE, Ind. - An Indiana brewery that's set to open in the fall says it's raising awareness for the issues Flint has faced, though others say the effort is backfiring and doing more harm than good.

Jon Duncan and Rodney Chlebek are co-owners of the Lakeville Brew Crew brewery in Lakeville, Indiana, which is set to open in the fall. They said they name all of the beers they create. Some of those names include "Flint Michigan Tap Water," "Black Beer Matters," "White Guilt" and "Mass Graves," according to the South Bend Tribune.

“The way I look at it, with the 'Flint Michigan Tap Water,' if you’re going to get mad about that beer name, you should focus your anger more toward the people that are letting that happen to Flint,” he said to the South Bend Tribune.

Duncan said he has a reason behind every name.

The stout will be called “Black Beer Matters” because, according to Duncan, stouts and porters are the least popular of all craft beers. But “they are good beers and they matter,” he said.

Duncan said the Belgian white beer will be called "White Guilt" because of people Duncan knows who get upset about the other names of the beer.

"None of this is done out of hate. None of this is done out of making fun of it,” Duncan said. “That was to bring awareness to the issues.”

The company declined to comment when contacted through its Facebook page on Monday afternoon.

The brewery hasn't opened yet, but it already has several bad reviews related to the names of the beer, including a few on its Facebook page.

Jon Piepenbrok of Detroit, wrote on the page, "The beer will not sell itself, based solely on the tasteless names of the products."

Tracy Hurst of Chicago wrote, "Please have some semblance of respect for the brewing community, whose coattails you're grasping for. Just stop now while you can."

Also, some marketing professionals say that while young people want to support a local business that raises awareness for issues, there might be a more direct way to do so that seems less like making fun of the issues in Flint.

"It’s even tough for giant companies to acknowledge issues and it just often comes off as, well, kind of weird. It looks like marketing instead of caring, and customers can tell the difference," said Elanor Williams, assistant marketing professor at Indiana University Kelley School of Business told the South Bend Tribune.

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