What is it about beer that encourages people to say things — they would never want to say on cheese or ketchup labels? In the latest skirmish, an Oklahoma brewer came out with Nobama Beer during the past few weeks. It appears that TTB was not too fond of this brand name, at least at first. But then Huebert Brewing Company, their lawyer, and the local NBC affiliate went on the offensive, to push the label through, as shown in this video. I must admit, I did not expect to see a TV news story about the finer points of TTB Form 5100.31, Exemptions from Label Approval, or TTB’s renowned beer label reviewer (the one person that has reviewed and approved the label for just about every beer currently available in the US). The first video shows that TTB at first allowed the beer only within Oklahoma, but the above approval, and this later video, shows that TTB shortly thereafter felt compelled to allow it more widely. The examples of envelope-pushing beer labels are probably too numerous to mention here. And they are certainly not limited to the Obama bashers, as in this example.

You read that right. It’s far from Chopin Vodka. It’s Chokin’ Vodka. Chokin’ Chicken Vodka to be more precise. This may signal that it’s time for the Wild Turkey and even the Rex Goliath to step aside and make way for another bird. We are pleased to see that many fun, inventive labels keep going through. I am a little surprised that it was ok to say “Not intended To Grow Hair On A Goat’s Ass.” Chokin’ Chicken is bottled by Gatlinburg Barrelhouse LLC of Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Under the new and important Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), FDA was supposed to commence food facility re-registrations yesterday. This was mandated by section 102 of the FSMA law, enacted in 2011. This piece of the FSMA puzzle is not off to a propitious start. It was bad enough that there was not much guidance or clarity about how this would work, before the October 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012 re-registration period began. But it’s even worse that the brief window for required and biennial re-registration began yesterday — and yet there is still no means by which to accomplish what is required. The renewal website was briefly available last week, for a few hours, then it froze, then it disappeared, to be replaced with an oh so calm assurance that:

Biennial Registration Renewal for Food Facilities will not be available on October 1, 2012.  We therefore will not be accepting food facility registration renewals at this time.

Natural Products Insider has explained:

FDA is delaying the registration renewals that are mandated under a 2011 law after the Grocery Manufacturers Association and numerous other trade associations recently sought guidance in meeting the registration requirements. “It would be extremely inefficient and costly for companies to re-register shortly after October 1st based on the...

Here is Pumpkin Face Dominican Rum. Does it remind me that summer is ending and Halloween is around the corner? No. It reminds me of many other things.

It reminds me that Dan Matauch at Flowdesign has a lot of skill. I especially like the main font.

It reminds me that Mark Itskovitz was serious when he said he was thinking about getting into the spirits business.

It reminds me of the new distiller and former bartender, I met at the ADI conference — at the bar — who said bartenders hate shapes like this because they take a lot of space. But they never go in the trash can.

It reminds me of the Apple-Samsung litigation. If Apple designed this, one might expect Apple to claim a patent on certain orb-shaped decanters.

Finally, it reminds me to thank Ann and Gerard for stopping by yesterday and saying nice things about this blog. Gerard is one of the most famous chefs in the U.S., and Ann makes a pretty good veal dish herself.