Woman to now 'handle all tweets' for Arrogant Brewing

The chairman also said that in the last 36 hours the brewery has discussed "how to reinforce and increase" their support of equality issues.

The original tweet made by Stone Brewing Co's California-based Arrogant Brewing brand​, was intended to share the company's "technique that will help wash away the ordinariness of your day (or for rare few, cap off a day of significance".

It said: "Put me in your mouth, make an *mmm* sound, swallow. Express appreciation and ask permission to do it again. Hint: Only wussies do the 'ask permission' part".

Many criticised the brewery who were "disappointed and troubled" to see this type of joking around consent.

The Twitter account of the brewery, Arrogant Bastard, swiftly deleted the post and said it was "seriously gutted" that the intended reference to a beer was "linked to a much wider and problematic issue in our society".

However, some weren't convinced by the apology, and claimed that the account went on to "pander to men who attacked people who raised the issue, instead of outright shutting them down".

Very serious issue

In response, executive chairman and co-founder Greg Koch issued a formal statement, which read: "Yesterday we posted an inappropriate tweet on our Arrogant Bastard Twitter account.

"It carried an underlying message referencing sexual consent that was not intended, or even realised at the time. I see now that the post could easily be read as distastefully making light of a very serious issue in today's society. We apologise for our poor judgement that enabled the tweet to come off as mocking a subject with very real and serious implications.

"I, Greg Koch, as well as Stone Brewing and Arrogant Brewing, do not condone sexual violence or misogyny in any way. The poorly-phrased nature of our tweet does not represent anything even remotely acceptable in the past, present or future of our business, or society as a whole.

"I join with everyone who is angry at the situation of sexual violence and misogyny in our society.

"To that end, we have had a lot of discussion over the past 36 hours on how to reinforce and increase our support for equality issues.

"I personally want to take this opportunity to do better. Much better. It's true to our belief system, and we'll prove it. All I can ask is that you accept my sincerest apologies and please be assured it won't happen again.

"For the foreseeable future, a female member of the company will be handling all tweets for @ArrogantBastard. Effective immediately."