alcohol beverages generally

I stumbled upon an interesting article in the Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Law of all places. Even though it’s based in Kentucky, I am startled to see that perhaps Mark Brown missed this, in the wee hours of the night, when he combs through the booze press near and far.

The article is entitled “‘Handmade’ or ‘Made By Hand’: Assessing Alcohol Labeling Practices and Evaluating a Popular Consumer Class Action.” It came out during the past year or so. I have followed the handmade litigations, a lot, in these pages. So I don’t want to rehash that stuff. I will mostly highlight a few points in this law review article, by then law student Hannah Simms. She says:

• “In 2013 alone, the alcoholic beverage industry in the United States generated nearly $456 billion in total economic activity.” This seems mighty high to me.
• “… courts have been entirely inconsistent on whether or not to apply safe harbor provisions contained in a majority of state deceptive and unfair practice laws.“

Noting that the trends are not yet settled, the author wraps up by saying:

If the courts are unwilling or unable to address the situation, the responsibility to take action to protect the industry must shift to the TTB. The TTB could provide clarification of the...

The plaintiff in a would-be class action lawsuit against Sazerac voluntarily dismissed all his claims in late January, ending the litigation. The case (Parker v. Buffalo Trace Distillery, Inc. et al.) began in November of last year, and concerned a subtle change on the label of Sazerac’s “Old Charter” brand of bourbon whiskey. The older and newer labels are above, side by side.

Among the various changes, the old label says, “AGED 8 YEARS,” while the new label simply displays the number “8.”

Plaintiff Nicholas Parker alleged that the Old Charter bourbon sold under the new label was no longer aged for 8 years, and that Sazerac’s continued use of the number “8” on the label caused consumers to believe that the bourbon was aged for 8 years. Sazerac responded with a motion to dismiss the complaint, alleging that Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) approval of the label provided Sazerac with a “safe harbor” from Mr. Parker’s claims.

Just two weeks after Sazerac filed its motion to dismiss, Mr. Parker voluntarily dismissed the action. This voluntary dismissal meant that the court did not have to rule on the merits of Sazerac’s safe harbor defense, or Mr. Parker’s claims. If the Tito’s “Handmade” Vodka cases are any indication, it is likely that the safe harbor defense would not...

The latest issue of Beverage Master just came in last week. It is the October-November issue and has a fine article about Moonshine University, if I may say so myself. A small excerpt is below, and you can find the entire article, and indeed the whole issue, here.

There is a lot of talk about Moonshine University, launched in early 2013. As this Louisville, Kentucky training center moves toward year five of educating new distillers, I contacted some of the principals, to see how it’s going. The questions are from me, and most of the answers are from Christin Head, Registrar at Moonshine University.

1. What is Moonshine University? Moonshine University is an artisan distillery and education center located in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. Our distillery is adjacent to our state-of-the-art classroom and is set up for small runs and hands-on distilling training. We offer technical training and business management education for start-ups, industry professionals, and those looking for careers in the distilling industry. Our courses are designed and taught by distillery operators, industry insiders, and world-renowned master distillers.

2. When did it start and how many classes so far? Moonshine University opened in January 2013. We have just completed our thirteenth session of our flagship course, the 5-Day Distiller Course. All...