In a massive and coordinated action yesterday, the Federal Government moved to favor Red Bull and pummel other drinks with caffeine. FDA handed a giant gift to Red Bull here. The FTC handed a humongous present to Red Bull here. Other actions are expected imminently, as legions of other regulators rush in to exaggerate the dangers (it looks like soda, it’s “loaded with caffeine,” it’s like a “plague” and “toxic”) and ignore evidence to the contrary. This follows many state actions in recent weeks. Presto, problem solved! We eagerly await the evidence that young people cut back on alcohol, or cut back on co-consumption of alcohol with caffeine. We hope it’s better than the current leading study; it purports to highlight the dangers of the pre-mixed products such as Four Loko, Liquid Charge, Joose and scores of others — without ever having examined any such products. Instead, the O’Brien study reviewed products so different they are not even within the scope of yesterday’s governmental actions (none of which, after some dexterous sleight of hand and misdirection, stopped it from instigating the above actions). We believe caffeine and alcohol raise plenty of important public policy issues, whether they are combined or not, and they warrant serious deliberation. But many of the deliberations so far reflect political pressures...
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Squished Witch Red Table Wine
The upcoming Halloween holiday brings to mind candy and costumes and ghosts and ghouls and witches. This year, witches and witchcraft have enjoyed an additional autumnal limelight after tapes surfaced of U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell (R-DE) claiming to have dabbled in witchcraft while in high school. Squished Witch, from Oz Winery of Wamego, Kansas, looks set to capitalize on the shared whimsy of this year’s Halloween and political seasons. The winery describes Squished Witch as a “fruity, semi-sweet Ives Noir based red.” Like Squished Witch, most of the three-dozen wines in the Oz Winery stable boast some obvious connection to the classic film The Wizard of Oz, including I’ve Got You My Pretty, The Lion’s Courage, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Scarecrow, Flying Monkey, and I’m Melting Merlot. The Squished Witch label is home to at least one interesting legal issue. If you were looking for the class/type description and/or alcohol content and weren’t having any luck, note the smallish cursive words “Red Table Wine” nestled in a fold in the land above the fanciful name. I missed them at first, second, and third glance. Oz also has Drunken Munchkin, and it’s rare to have a reference to intoxication on a wine label. The Witch label reminds me that a friend used to...
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So Many Warnings
If you like your warnings big and graphic, you will love the alcohol beverage warnings under consideration in Thailand. The Wall Street Journal of September 17, 2010 shows the photo above, as an example of one of the warnings under consideration.
If you think it can’t happen here, take a look at this tobacco website which explains: “New legislation passed in June 2009 requires pictorial health warnings on 50% of the front and back of US cigarette packages within 24 months, in addition to a 15 month implementation window.” At least 13 countries already require graphical warnings to cover more than 50% of the cigarette pack. At least 38 countries have finalized requirements for picture warnings. The Wall Street Journal article explains:
Alcohol companies world-wide are lining up to fight a Thai plan to require graphic warning labels about alcohol on the country’s domestic and imported beer, wine and liquor bottles.
Continue Reading Leave a CommentThe proposed labels—which would cover 30% of the bottles’ surface area—include unusually explicit warnings about risks associated with alcohol use. One picture shows a shirtless man grasping a woman by the hair and raising his fist to hit her, accompanied by the words, “Alcohol consumption could harm yourself, children and family.”
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Happy Ten Ten
We have not seen wine products with added beer or hops. But here, just in time for epic Ten Ten Ten festivities, is beer with added wine or something very closely akin to it. Vertical Epic is made by Stone Brewing of Escondido, California. It is classified as Ale Brewed with Muscat, Gewurztraminer and Sauvignon Blanc Grapes and Chamomile. We find it interesting that TTB could have, but apparently chose not to, say something like, please remove the grape names as they tend to misleadingly suggest that this is wine. The back label has some good information, such as pointing out that this is the ninth in a series, beginning with a 2/2/2002 beer and so on, “Each one released one year, one month and one day from the previous year’s edition.” The back label also has a helpful link to “a detailed home-brewing recipe.” Stone’s blog, with lots of videos, further explains:
Initiated in 2002—when the notion that Stone might still be around in 2012 was more hope than certainty— the Stone Vertical Epic Ale series has given Stone brewers an avenue for creative expression while helping spread the good word about the benefits of cellaring beer.
Continue Reading Leave a CommentStone Head Brewer Mitch Steele, who studied enology at UC Davis and...
Tags: hybrid, ingredients, policy, unlikely combinations
Beer + Hemp
Until about 10 years ago, there were quite a few beers made with hemp available in the US. Then TTB/ATF put out a policy and also said:
On April 6, 2000, ATF issued a policy on the use of hemp or hemp components in alcohol beverages and on the use of the term “hemp” or depictions of the hemp plant on labels for alcohol beverages. The policy does not ban the use of hemp in alcohol beverages, but was created to assure that beverage alcohol products do not contain a controlled substance (tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)). ATF also determined that the appearance of the word “hemp” or depictions of hemp plants on labels was likely to create a misleading impression as to the true identity or quality of the product. As of this writing, there are no approved certificates of label approval for products containing hemp.
Slowly but surely, however, in recent months various beers with hemp are starting to re-emerge and three of them are highlighted in this post. For the uninitiated, hemp happens to be a member of the cannabaceae family, a cousin of hops and close kin of marijuana (or cannabis). Above is O’Fallon’s Hemp Hop Rye, an amber ale brewed with hemp seeds and approved earlier this year. The label mentions...
Continue Reading Leave a CommentThe Prominence of Vodka, Part 2
How big is your vodka? On this label, VODKA appears to be 2-4 times more prominent than RASPBERRY FLAVORED VODKA. This disparity was apparently too much, and tipped the scales toward the surrender of this and many other Rokk brand flavored vodka labels recently. For quite some time, TTB has been concerned about the relative prominence of this coveted term (vodka) — especially on products that are not technically “vodka.” The federal standard for vodka is quite restrictive and surely allows for nothing like raspberry flavor. In fact, only a bit of sugar and citric acid are allowed in true “vodka,” nothing more. If anything more is added, the product jumps over to what TTB views as an entirely different category such as a flavored vodka or vodka specialty. This approval (issued February 17, 2010) shows Diageo surrendering one of many Rokk labels. This use-up approval (issued September 2, 2010) shows what TTB wants Diageo to change. The most relevant TTB qualifications, toward the center of the approval, say:
Continue Reading Leave a Comment(When new labels are printed the class and type designation Raspberry Flavored Vodka must appear conspicuous on the label and the reference to Vodka of Sweden standing alone must be deleted.) (The reference to Rokk Raspberry Vodka and Rokk Vodka in the text...
Tags: policy