--- title: Hotel Apologizes for 'Apartheid' Cocktail description: Icelandair says an employee did not understand what the word meant canonical: https://time.com/3642421/apartheid-cocktail/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-19T19:34:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:15:29.652Z og:title: Hotel Apologizes for 'Apartheid' Cocktail og:description: Icelandair says an employee did not understand what the word meant og:url: https://time.com/3642421/apartheid-cocktail/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hotel Apologizes for 'Apartheid' Cocktail twitter:description: Icelandair says an employee did not understand what the word meant twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Hotel Apologizes for 'Apartheid' Cocktail by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Dec 19, 2014 7:34 PM UTC by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Dec 19, 2014 7:34 PM UTC Words: sometimes they’re just so hard. A Reykjavik hotel owned by Icelandair has apologized for offering a cocktail called “Apartheid” on its bar menu, saying an employee was “unaware of its meaning.” > [](https://twitter.com/AfricasaCountry/status/545944117629689856) To make matters worse, when someone shared an image of the Hotel Reykjavik Marina’s menu on Twitter, Icelandair at first [responded](https://twitter.com/Icelandair/status/545954496988602368), “Simply scrumptious, enjoy! Happy Holidays.” The company later [apologized](https://twitter.com/Icelandair/status/545974253511000066) and [explained](https://twitter.com/Icelandair/status/545976695954870272) the mix-up: “\[The staffer\] thought the word just meant separation and did not understand the connotation and historical significance.” For the record, “separation” apparently tastes like vodka, stout liqueur, cream and roasted hazelnuts. Hotel Apologizes for 'Apartheid' Cocktail ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3642421/apartheid-cocktail/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3642421/apartheid-cocktail/"},"headline":"Hotel Apologizes for 'Apartheid' Cocktail","datePublished":"2014-12-19T19:34:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:15:29.652Z","description":"Icelandair says an employee did not understand what the word meant","url":"https://time.com/3642421/apartheid-cocktail/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Food & Drink","Iceland"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3642421/apartheid-cocktail/","name":"Hotel Apologizes for 'Apartheid' Cocktail"}}]}] ```