There’s controversy brewing over at Lost Abbey, where the label of their Witch’s Wit (above) has drawn the ire of a powerful pagan. And, as the New York Times reports, it all started with a trip to the beer store.

Vicki Noble is a well known astrologist, spiritual healer and goddess lover. She’s also a fan of good beer. While perusing the selection at her local beer store, she came across a bottle of Lost Abbey Witch’s Wit, a Belgian white ale brewed with grapefruit zest, orange peel and coriander.

While the beer inside might have been tasty, the label made Vicki lose her thirst altogether. It features a painting by Sean Dominguez, showing a witch being burned at the stake.

Totally offended, Vicki sent out an eblast to her friends and followers to share her outrage. It included this passage:

“Can you imagine them showing a black person being lynched or a Jewish person going to the oven?” she wrote. “Such images are simply not tolerated in our society anymore (thank the Goddess) and this one should not be, either.”

The brewery received a flood of complaints from the pagan and Wiccan communities to change the label, which they have agreed to do.

Lost Abbey says the label was never meant to offend. According to brewery co-owner Tomme Arthur, it was meant to depict “smugness and righteousness in light of a horrific atrocity against mankind.” It’s a part of their Catholic-themed series of beers which includes Judgment Day and Inferno Ale.

Tomme says they’ll meet after Halloween to figure out what to do about the label. They’re contemplating having a contest to determine what will replace the offending image.

Once it’s replaced, Vicki Noble is looking forward to sampling the beer. “Maybe we can make a ceremony out of it,” she says.

At first blush I thought this was a silly protest, aimed at gaining attention and legitimacy for pagans. But I can also see how a modern day witch (or wizard – if they have those) could be offended to see the murder of their kind used to sell beer, regardless of the artist’s or brewer’s intentions.

There are lots of ways to depict witches, so I say change it – just make sure the new witch is as hot sexy as the current Megan-Fox-look-alike one.

What about you? Do you think Lost Abbey should have agreed to change the image, or do you think Ms. Noble and her friends are overreacting? As always, let us know below.

UPDATE: Well I (actually it was the New York Times) spoke too soon. It seems Lost Abbey has not made any decisions about changing the label, instead they have only confirmed they will be discussing it in November. Tomme Arthur has addressed the issue on the company blog, and the Texas Office of Girl’s Pint Out gets the scoop here as well. Apparently they don’t want to be making any decisions about witch labels during the Halloween media cycle, which sounds pretty smart to me.

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