Here are a few charity-themed alcohol beverage labels. They are becoming more common, to the point where TTB does have a specific policy. In general, of course the charity language has to be truthful and non-misleading — but also, it needs to have a bit of specific information (such as the name of the charity). Vets Vodka is bottled by Terressentia of North Charleston, South Carolina and benefits the National League of Families (POW-MIAs). Hope Wine is bottled by Sonoma Wine Company of Graton, California and benefits “our troops.” Third, Charity Case wine is made by One True Vine, LLC of St. Helena, California and benefits “charities serving children and families in and around Napa County.”

This post will start short but is likely to grow long over time. Very long. We will try to show the enormous range of foodstuffs from which wine is produced. With each post we will add to the list, and I predict it will grow way past 50. Today we add Pomegranate wine to the list.

1. Avocado wine
2. Banana wine
3. Dandelion wine
4. Grape wine
5. Kiwi wine
6. Mangosteen wine
7. Marionberry wine
8. Onion wine
9. Pomegranate wine. This example is imported from Armenia by Dozortsev & Sons of Elizabeth, New Jersey.
10. Pear wine
11. Pepper wine
12. Pineapple wine
13. Rhubarb wine
14. Tomato wine
15. Watermelon wine

Here is beer with added sea salt. The label declares that it’s made with Swiss mountain spring water, barley malt, hops, yeast — and sea salt. Cargill recently drew a fair amount of flak for suggesting that people should sprinkle a bit of salt on their ice cream, coffee, fruit, but they neglected to mention beer. Douze is made in Switzerland and imported by B. United of Redding, Connecticut.

Do you see something wrong with the above labels? All of them have “fancy” commodity statements, rather than one that is more stripped down. A plain commodity statement would be something like DISTILLED FROM GRAIN rather than DISTILLED FROM FRENCH WHEAT, as on the Grey Goose label above. On the one hand, there are many label approvals, such as the above. On the other hand, TTB recently rejected DISTILLED FROM NEW YORK GRAIN and said it must appear as DISTILLED FROM GRAIN instead. Can both the approvals and the rejection possibly be right? Between the two, what do you think is more right? This can be critical because most vodka and gin labels must have a compliant commodity statement, to show the commodity from which the base spirits are distilled. The examples above are Heart of the Hudson Vodka (NY Apples), Tuthilltown Vodka (75 pounds of Hudson Valley Apples), Grey Goose Vodka (French Wheat), Core Vodka (Hudson Valley Apples), Bootlegger Vodka (American Grain), and China Beach Vodka (California Grapes). Other examples are Cold River Gin (Maine Potatoes), Soft Tail Vodka (Washington State Apples), True North Vodka (Michigan Rye), and Flathead Vodka (Idaho Sugar Beets).