current events

A few weeks ago we wrote about Recession Red table wine. We were sort of hoping we would have no reason to revisit this woeful topic anytime soon. And yet the markets have continued to shrivel, and so, not surprisingly, a significant number of alcohol beverage companies have picked up on this theme. Broke Ass Red Wine (above) is made in Argentina and imported by USDP of Minnesota. On the right, the Bailout Bitter Ale says:

A hoppy golden ale with recession fighting properties. … A bitter ale for bitter times.

We have trouble discerning a health claim in these words. And yet, the applicant felt compelled to state (at box 19):  “The brewery certifies that it is absolutely not making any representation on health benefits on this … product.”  An important clarification, we think — just in case the public might think the ale could cure athlete’s foot or the ailing world economy. Bailout Bitter is made in Canada and imported by KIAI of Atlanta.

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TTB does not usually allow presidents to be shown on alcohol beverage labels, so we were suprised to see George Washington (above) and Thomas Jefferson emblazoned upon these beers. The normal rationale is that it could misleadingly imply that the president endorsed the product. Here, the porter neck label says “Crafted following General Washington’s original recipe.” We see very few Obama beers so far, and we wonder how many TTB should allow — if any. What presidential beers do you think the government should allow?

Remember when Nixon said “You won’t have Nixon to kick around any more”? Well, we bet Plata Wine Partners is bummed that Sarah Palin is not around at the moment. They jumped on the news and came out with half a dozen “Lipstick on a Pig” labels in September of 2008. They were so enthused about the prospects here, that they claimed trademark rights to this name. Plata certainly moved quickly; President-Elect Obama referred to lipstick on a pig (without pointing to or naming any person) on September 9, 2008, and Plata filed with TTB nine days later. Governor Sarah Palin may have opened the door to some of this ridicule with her famous or infamous joke about hockey moms and lipstick. But we hasten to note that Plata’s actual label does not make any direct visual or textual reference to Palin, and we further note that she looks better in lipstick than we do. The label does say:  “The origin of ‘Lipstick on a Pig’ is a mystery. But it has captivated the public’s attention like few other phrases in recent history.”