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...
Continue Reading Leave a Commentlegally interesting/controversial
Nude Beer
Tags: container, functional, legally interesting/controversial, policy, risqué, sexual
97 Ounces of … Obscenity(?)
It’s been a long time since any single wine label got as much press as the one above. We don’t want to rehash the Cycles Gladiator story yet one more time; it is well told here for example. Instead, we are curious about the lines dividing art, free speech and obscenity. TTB is regularly called upon to judge these matters. Today, it’s your turn to judge. Please take a peek (if you dare) and report your opinion in the poll below. A quick view of all four labels is here (this is the fastest and easiest view, for the poll). [polldaddy poll=”2111484″] Another view, showing the full label approval for each product, is below.
- A. Cycles Gladiator Red Wine
- B. Toogood Foreplay Red Wine
- C. Mendielle Vertu Merlot
- D. Naughty Nancy’s Nut Brown Ale
Go ahead and vote in the poll or comment or both.
Continue Reading Leave a CommentTags: legally interesting/controversial, media buzz, policy, risqué, sexual
Nanny State Beer
Last month, we highlighted three beers with alcohol contents above 18%. For the most part, these beers created little controversy, despite stuffing a six-pack’s worth of alcohol into a single bottle. Enter Scotland’s BrewDog, a craft brewer that drew the ire of industry watchdogs in the United Kingdom with their Tokyo* oak aged stout. Alcohol Focus Scotland called the 18.2% alc./vol. beer “irresponsible,” and a member of the Scottish Parliament even submitted a motion condemning the brewery. BrewDog responded to these UK critics with Nanny State, a 1.1% alc./vol. “mild imperial ale.” The label has this to say:
At BrewDog we appreciate your inability to know your limits – especially when it comes to alcohol – which is why we’ve created Nanny State. This idiosyncratic little beer is a gentle smack in the right direction. Please note: BrewDog recommends that you only drink this beer whilst wearing the necessary personal protective equipment and in a premises that has passed a full health and safety risk assessment for optimum enjoyment.
The name, absurdly low alcohol content and label combine to create a witty riff on alcohol beverage policy. And it may well be a great public relations move for a small brewer — taking a well-publicized swipe at critics with a marketable...
Continue Reading Leave a CommentTags: legally interesting/controversial, media buzz, policy, political, speech, writing/witty/funny
Forty Proof Beer
Once upon a time, the federal government prohibited the disclosure of alcohol content on malt beverage labels. The rationale was to protect public health by discouraging brewers from competing in “strength wars,” to sell more product. It took years of persistence by Coors Brewing Company and a ruling from the Supreme Court in 1995 to persuade TTB (then ATF) to allow the practice. Did the strength wars ever materialize, once the rules changed? Among the major brewers, not really. In fact, we noted that there is war of a different kind — increasingly lighter beers (in alcohol and caloric content) from Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors. But the craft beer movement appears to have its own strength war. “Extreme beers” — beers with intense flavors and alcohol contents at three, four or even five times the amounts in a typical American lager — help small brewers stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace. And yes, they have many more calories too. Boston Beer Company offers one of the strongest beers available for sale in the United States, with their Utopias, at 24% alc./vol. and a whopping 732 calories per 12 ounce serving (as per Skilnik). Dogfish Head Craft Brewery’s 2002 release of World Wide Stout is listed at 23.04% alc./vol. and has approximately 666 calories per 12...
Continue Reading Leave a CommentTags: business strategy, legally interesting/controversial, policy, processing
Energy Not Allowed
You can Google “energy vodka” or “energy beer” and find millions of links in each case. But you won’t find much by way of references to “energy” on TTB-regulated labels. TTB seems to be dead-set against allowing this term, almost without regard to the context. Edison Light Beer illustrates this. The product does not even contain caffeine or other stimulants. The label does, however, make a passing reference to “energy,” saying: “Edison brings new energy to light.” Or at least it did. TTB banished the term in this March 2007 temporary approval. By the time of this March 2008 replacement approval, Edison’s energy was dissipated without a trace.
Continue Reading Leave a CommentTags: caffeine/secondary effects, legally interesting/controversial, policy, speech
Caffeine: It’s Not Just for Beer and Coffee Liqueur Anymore
TTB has been allowing caffeine in alcohol beverages since the day it became TTB, and ATF allowed it for decades prior. At first, it was most often found in things like coffee liqueur. Then it jumped to beer about eight years ago (with this Sparks label that seems to be the earliest beer with caffeine approval, and one of the first with directly added caffeine — in beer, wine or spirits). Well it took a while, but our favorite alkaloid has finally made the jump to wine. So far, we find at least four wines with clear evidence of caffeine. They are:
- Cafe Lue Orange Wine with Coffee
- Chang Rai Green Tea Wine
- Charbay Aperitif Wine with Tea Leaves
- P.I.N.K. Sake with Caffeine
Somehow I don’t imagine the skateboard crowd getting crazy with Charbay Aperitif Wine or P.I.N.K. Sake. A list of more than sixty approvals, for alcohol beverages with caffeine, is here.
Charbay Aperitif Wine with Tea LeavesContinue Reading Leave a CommentTags: caffeine/secondary effects, legally interesting/controversial, policy