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One might assume that beer + naked women is a nearly unstoppable combination. But it did not work out that way for Coast Range Brewing. It looks like the Gilroy, California purveyor of Nude Beer is long gone. Their last COLA was in 2006 and their last Nude Beer approval was in 2004. There is no sign of the company at the web address above. In all, the company got about 23 approvals for Nude Beer before fading away. Coast Range provides a clear lesson that it takes a lot more than unclothed women to sell beer. In case it’s not obvious from the above image, the idea is that you buy the beer and then peel off part of the label to reveal a woman with little if any clothing. A slightly blurred example is at the end of this sentence but don’t click it if you don’t want to see nudity. This kind of stickering is a good option for companies that want to show something more than the government and retailers might otherwise allow. We wanted to capture it before it fades into ancient history. This also shows that the system has a lot of checks and balances, such as the market, and the government doesn’t need to carry the entire...

Above is an example of a wine label embossed with Braille. Such labels were virtually unavailable before about 13 years ago. Then, in 1996, M. Chapoutier of France begain using Braille on all its labels. The British newspaper, The Independent explains:

The technique is the same as printing visible labels:  an iron Braille negative is pressed onto the back of the paper label to make the Braille bumps. Mr. Chapoutier decided to use his 40-year-old printing machine to make every one of the 2.5 million bottles of wine he produces each year. They have proved a success … . As fewer than 20,000 of the one million registered blind and partially sighted people in the UK can read Braille, other methods are also being urged including the use of audio-tapes, large print and computer disks.

The article explains that bleach and eye drops are the only other UK products imprinted with Braille. It would seem that the Braille text should be covered on the TTB label approval, just like English letters, or any other language such as Japanese. And yet we have flipped through quite a few label approvals with Braille and very few mention Braille on the label approval.

The last two posts showed beverage packaging that serves the extra function of lighting up. Drink’n’Stick doesn’t just sit there on the shelf, passively. It is a wine package that beckons you to dress, or undress, the pin-up model. Like Quickie, this is another great one from Vine Street Imports and Some Young Punks. The latter website says:

Few wines come with instructions — this one also comes with a wardrobe. Peel the clothing from the sheet to customize the accompanying temptress as you drink.

Wine Girl has a good slide show and description. She said:

I was distracted for a full hour by just the bottle. … There is a Bettie Page-esque pin-up girl on the label. There’s also a plastic strip that you can carefully unwrap to reveal that our Bettie is actually the equivalent of a paper doll. The plastic strip has all sorts [of] clothing on it. I think I tried almost every possible combination on Bettie before settling on a ruffly shirt and crop pants. Ladies, there are even scarves and hair bows.

You know, the bottle appeals to both sexes, as I discovered in the store. Unwrapped, it’s a Bettie Page pin-up in retro lingerie. The guys were all excited. … The ladies,...