The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) has decided to refuse to sell a beer from a small, local brewery because they disapprove of its name and its label. The Smashbomb Atomic IPA, a highly-reviewed and well-selling brew from Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery in Barrie, will not be stocked in LCBO stores anymore because the name and packaging is too "extreme."

In most other places, Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery could take their Smashbomb and sell it elsewhere — in Ontario, where brewers are limited to selling at the LCBO stores or at the Molson- and Labbatt-owned Beer Stores, being removed from LCBO shelves can cripple or even destroy a small brewery.

The almost-monopoly of the alcohol sales industry by a crown corporation aside — though that in itself is worth a larger examination — I am having trouble seeing how the LCBO can even object to this product. Where is the problem?

The packaging of the product, featuring goofy illustrations and cheeky text, is funny at times, odd at most. It is not, in any way, offensive or irresponsible. The name Smashbomb is in no way any more socially unacceptable than the names of many other products (Fruit Explosion muffins, Smashbox Cosmetics, etc.) or groups (Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Atlanta Thrashers) that we see and accept every day.

The beer, through its name and packaging, does not encourage underage drinking, nor does it advocate violence or violent behavior. Instead, it insinuates a cacophony of flavor and potency — a "smashbomb" of good beer, in effect. For the LCBO to think otherwise indicates that they have their filters on too tightly, and are being oversensitive to metaphor.

I understand that the LCBO needs to take precaution to make sure that products are not encouraging damaging or illegal behavior, or even making light of these kinds of activiites. Smashbomb Atomic IPA does none of those. Instead, Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery uses a goofy trope (as it does for so many of its other products) to give their beer identity.

If alcohol sales in Ontario weren't an almost-monopoly, the decision by the LCBO wouldn't matter. But since Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery really has no place else to go because of alcohol distribution and sales laws in the province, a unnecessary banning because of a cheeky name could seriously hurt the success of a local business. That's not something anyone should want, especially not a crown corporation.

What do you think? Is the packaging too extreme for responsible sale by the LCBO?