purple reign beer greene king

The death of tiny pop hero Prince took many by surprise last week.

Not least the good folk at Greene King, who had innocently been beavering away on a limited-edition ale to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday. Satisfied with its concoction, the brewery duly issued a press release: loyal subjects, they reasoned, would love a pint called Purple Reign.

Less than 24 hours later, the sad news broke, and the name suddenly looked like a reference to music royalty instead. “This ale is intended as a tribute to our longest-reigning monarch with a respectful nod to the classic song,” a spokeswoman said. “In light of the tragic news, we hope that these intentions continue to be understood by our guests.”

Well, why not drink a toast to him anyway? It’s still better than the (hastily deleted) tweet from Cheerios - ‘rest in peace’ - with a Cheerio instead of a dot over the ‘i’.

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