For Girls Chicks Women Only. Yes; it is difficult to imagine a male sipping this, with a straight face. Chick Food watermelon schnapps (above) is also available as pomegranate schnapps. The products are made by Side Pocket Foods of Cottage Grove, Oregon.

Sin City seems to be alive and well in the hearts and minds of drinkers and marketers everywhere. Sin City Whiskey (above) is imported by Side Pocket Foods of Oregon. Viva Las Vegas is a California white wine bottled by Cartlidge & Browne Winery of American Canyon, California.

It is likely that all beer, wine and spirits labels will change dramatically in the near future. TTB has been working on new rules since CSPI and other groups submitted a petition in 2003. The new rules would require a “Serving Facts” panel on every container. This panel would include a lot more information, such as the typical serving size, number of servings per container, calories, carbohydrates, protein and fat. Because this is a big, controversial change, TTB has received more than 18,000 public comments during the past few years. There are far too many comments for most people to review, and so we will highlight and summarize the most noteworthy comments here. The most recent proposal and comments are here. This is comment 17 in a series; to see others, click on the “serving facts” tag below. Representatives Mike Thompson (D-CA 1st) and George Radanovich (R-Mariposa) are co-chairmen of the Congressional Wine Caucus. Their 2-page comment said:

1. This rule “could lead to the most significant revisions in wine label requirements in the history of the American wine industry.”
2. It could “have a severely detrimental impact on the wine industry.”
3. There is little evidence that consumers want or need additional information of this type, and TTB should balance this against the burden.
4. TTB should make it voluntary,...

Maybe N. Bergman or L. Fogelman can explain why there are so many distilled spirits plants in New York, all of a sudden. Here are three, and all are distilling vodka from apples (rather than the much more common and less expensive distillation from grain). Tuthilltown Spirits makes Heart of the Hudson Vodka (above). It is distilled from 100% New York apples. Eighty miles up the Hudson River, Harvest Spirits makes Core Vodka. They purport to distill only from Hudson Valley apples, in small batches. Third, there is Beak & Skiff Vodka, also distilled from apples, over near Syracuse. Larrie Laird (the dean of distilling apples in the US) once explained that it is immensely expensive to produce high-proof spirits from apples or any other fruit. It can take well over 25 pounds of apples to make one bottle.