Every year during Thorrablot — an Icelandic midwinter festival celebrating the Norse god Thor — the Steðji microbrewery releases a seasonal flavor. Its first Thorrablot brew in 2014, Hvalur 1, featured whale meal. Conservationists were less than pleased. With the recent release of Hvalur 2, the brewers drew the ire of whale lovers everywhere by featuring fin-whale testicles.

Delicacies like ram testicles, rotten shark and soured whale are a traditional part of the festivities, so Steðji’s owner, Dagbjartur Ariliusson, doesn’t see an issue.

“We wanted to make the perfect beer with this food,” Ariliusson said. “We use the fin whale mainly because we are allowed to hunt it here, and this part of it hasn’t been used before.”

Even though the International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling in 1986, Iceland refuses to recognize the law. In 2013, Iceland resumed commercial fin whaling after a two-year suspension. In 2014, Icelandic whalers killed 134 fin whales and 38 minke whales.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List classifies fin whales as endangered, but Ariliusson doesn’t agree. “[Fin whales] aren’t endangered here,” he insists. “And the Icelandic government runs one of the most responsible fisheries in the world.”

Ariliusson says Steðji sold most of its stock and claims there was no local opposition. In all, he brewed about 25,000 bottles.

But as Vanessa Williams-Grey, of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, told The Guardian: “This is a calculated move, not only to dishonor a beautiful and endangered creature by using its most intimate of body parts as a marketing tool, but it also sends a clear ‘two fingers’ to the conservation community and those who love and respect whales.”