This absinthe label does a good job explaining the recent history about absinthe. It explains that absinthe was banned from 1912 until almost 100 years later. More of the story about the legalization of absinthe is here, and the the first 20 or so products approved for US sale are listed here. Amerique 1912 is distilled by Great Lakes Distillery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is also one of the few absinthes that states “thujone free” on the bottle.

This is Before-After Beer, produced by Rinkuskiai beer company of Lithuania. It is imported by Aiko Importers of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. With a little help from Rinkuskiai, the old man metamorphosizes into the young woman, providing further evidence for this and this theory.

In many situations, TTB will not allow national flags, and especially not the US flag. The regulations support this. So the above labels seem to be noteworthy exceptions. Maize Valley Winery’s Redneck Red wine shows The American Flag on the main label, alongside The Confederate Flag. In the second example, The American Flag appears with the Military Flag of Japan. The wine is made by D’Vine Wine of Fredricksburg, Texas. A notable instance where TTB did not allow the US flag is on this New Hampshire beer.

We find no FUBAR approvals to date, but here we have WTF ale from Lagunitas, and SNAFU wine from Cartlidge & Browne. Both make liberal use of military slang. Lagunitas does so to express their dismay and confusion about the current state of world affairs. Tango and Foxtrot are well established as the military alphabet codes for T and F. Wilco famously used these codes on a 2002 album, but Whiskey, rather than Wilco, is the correct code for W. Perhaps the Petaluma, California brewer believed TTB would not allow the term “whiskey” on a malt beverage label. Or perhaps they are big Wilco fans. Or perhaps they are just very confused, further to the freewheeling text on the label (tieing in Bush v. Gore, adult videos, and imbibilisciousness). SNAFU, apart from the acronym, is California red wine bottled by Cartlidge & Browne in American Canyon, California. It claims to be the first wine to provide tasting notes via text message.