Tito’s vodka was doing great for the past 15 years, then hit a gigantic speedbump this week in the form of a class action lawsuit.

Tito’s therefore provides a good example of when an approval is not really an approval. Tito Beveridge has more than 30 TTB label approvals for his vodka from 1997 to 2013 (as in the above image, from LabelVision). They may not do him much good in this lawsuit, even though, in years past, most would assume the federal approval would be dispositive. It’s a good thing most TTB approvals are not paper anymore because these would “not be worth the paper they are printed on.”

Summary:  in Hofmann v. Fifth Dimension, Inc., Gary Hofmann (a consumer) sued Tito’s vodka on behalf of all Tito’s customers in California, claiming that the company misleads people about whether the product is “handmade.” The lawsuit was filed September 15, 2014 in San Diego county court. The federal government reviewed and approved the Tito’s labels, but has no definition for the term at issue.

The classic case of an approval that is not really an approval would be your garden variety Napa Valley Chardonnay, Vintage 2010. TTB will take almost every one of those...

Latrobe did a “brilliant” job here, picking up on a lot of important trends.

Let’s see how many instructive legal issues this one label raises. Extra points for anyone who can raise additional issues. No more ALS challenges, please.

1. It is beer but it more or less screams spirits.
2. In a variety of ways. (For example, the brand name refers to moonshine paraphernalia, as Tickle’s sidekick helpfully explains.*)
3. Within the rules, probably.
4. Even though spirits terms are not allowed on beer labels.
5. Even though this product contains and purports to contain absolutely no whiskey of any sort.
6. It mentions George Dickel at least three times.
7. It mentions Rye but not Rye Whiskey. This is very smart in that, though they mean about the same thing to most people, rye is just a grain, and it’s not necessarily whiskey without the second word attached. Like Bourbon is not sufficient on even a Bourbon Whiskey label, without the second word.
8. Latrobe used a formula, notwithstanding that TTB has eased way up on formula requirements.
9. The label raises a lot of good trademark issues, tied up with Latrobe’s use of another company’s highly protected brand name.
10. TTB seems to be allowing the term “refreshing” these days, on a pretty liberal basis, even though this policy...

It took me a long time (perhaps too long) to realize that — craft is (largely) about MADE IN USA. With an emphasis on made. And less emphasis on USA.

This dawned on me when looking at gleaming copper, at Vendome in Louisville, with welders crawling around on the concrete floor — making stuff. It has become rare to have any real connection to people making stuff nearby, and quite apparently, we have a craving to get back to our roots, much as we flock to the beach every summer. If you have any doubt, take a look at the copper porn, arrayed here.

In trying to get to the essence of what is craft — and distill it down — so far I have the above concepts. I added MADE IN USA to this list just today. Please comment away to let me know what the concept really means or should mean.

I would like to know if the above beer qualifies as Non GMO. I would also like to know, without a big hassle. I am sitting here with blazing fast internet and a big screen, and yet I remain in the dark as to whether this beer can be considered Non GMO. It would only be more confusing at the point of purchase, with less time and a smaller screen.

On the one hand, a recent press release claims Peak beers are the first to qualify to use the logo depicted at upper right on the image above. On the other hand, I can’t find any approved labels with the same seal (and the above is of course not the actual label). The actual label, as approved, is here. As of 2011, TTB said:

TTB has received several Certificates of Label Approval (COLA) applications proposing to display bioengineered-related information on alcohol beverage labels. Terms frequently mentioned in discussions about labeling alcohol beverages with respect to bioengineering include “GMO free” and “GM free.”  “GMO” is an acronym for “genetically modified organism” and “GM” means “genetically modified.”  The terms “genetically modified organism” and “genetically modified” are not synonymous with the term “bioengineered foods.”  Plants can be genetically modified using any number of techniques, new or traditional.

...