Atheist Beer "Godless" Coming to U.S.

By David Silverman

I smell a party!

In the early part of fall 2008, a small Danish brewery, Bryggeriet Djævlebryg, released a new Imperial Stout titled, “Gudeløs.” Those translate to “Devil’s Brew” and “Godless” in English. The beer caused a small stir and even earned a few mentions in the mainstream press here in the U.S. despite only being available in Europe. Here is an old RateBeer thread for some context.

Flash forward 20 months later and that beer is now about to touch down in America for the first time. We saw last week how much attention one complaint can attract so it will be interesting to see if this stirs up controversy again. Though the name is in Danish and most people won’t know what it means, the brewery makes its intentions pretty clear with the label description:

“Devil’s Brew and the Danish Atheist Society have entered into an unholy alliance, and the result is ‘Godless’ – an ale brewed entirely without superstition. [Godless] is an imperial stout with burnt and sweetish impressions, together with notes of licorice. To exercise social responsibility, Devil’s Brew donates one Danish Crown to the Danish Atheist Society for each bottle sold.”

The rough English translation of the society’s mission reads, “Atheist Company working for separation between religion and state in Denmark, so that all people be treated regardless of their religious views, and worldview.”

Religious views aside, this beer has above-average reviews for an Imperial Stout on RateBeer. It will be available in 500ml bottles beginning later this month, imported from the Shelton Brothers.