speech

Dear Flying Dog, Please tell me about your battle. It sounds interesting. Sincerely, bevlog

The Road Dog Porter label mentions shit not less than five times. Who would have expected the Founders were fighting for a beer company’s right to say this, and who ever thought a beer company would go so far to claim it. The label says:

We spent four long years in court fighting for our first amendment right to display the phrase “Good Beer, No Shit” on every bottle of Road Dog. In honor of sticking it to the man…

Fermentarium has part of the story:

The real heart of the issue is … You can’t put something indecent on the label.  Unfortunately it is some guy in the government who gets to decide what’s considered obscene.  He might be cool or he might be the most uptight person in the world.  There is no way for the brewer to know.  You might consider something obscene, but others may find the label acceptable.  For example, is profanity considered obscene? In 2001, the State of Colorado said yes it is.  Flying Dog Brewery’s Road Dog Ale label was rejected because the label said “good beer… no shit”.  The ACLU and Flying Dog Brewery sued stating the...

Way back in December of 2008 we ran Part 1 and Part 2. We didn’t really expect to see too many more variations on this theme, or that it could go a whole lot further. But alas we may have underestimated the frat-boy contingent of the alcohol beverage industry. Not that we think it does or should offend any “adult beverage” consumer. Perhaps the liqueur is Chinese and pronounced Fu-Chen. Perhaps the ale is German. It’s quite possible that our mind is in the gutter, and these labels have nothing whatever to do with sex, but we wouldn’t put any money on it. Lest anyone be unduly offended, I have two kids and I am pretty sure it would take something more than this to set them off kilter. The Fokker Ale is made by Azalea Coast Brewing, in Wilmington, North Carolina. The Fuchen Liqueur is herbal liqueur, imported by BPNC of Temperance, Michigan. We appreciate the irony that this liquor company is situated in Temperance of all places, and a lot of other people apparently felt the same way, as the company has recently changed its name to The Temperance Distilling Company.

It’s one of the most common and oldest words in the English language. Except nobody knows what it means, apparently. Pure. TTB generally does not allow it on spirits labels, when it appears to describe the end product. So it’s okay to say “made with pure water” but it’s not okay to say “Pure Vodka.” By contrast, there is no such restriction as to wine or beer. It is therefore perfectly okay to suggest that wine, such as the one above, is pure, or to be ambiguous about what is pure. A teenager might call it random and a judge might call it arbitrary. It is not especially clear why Purity Vodka and Pure BS wine should be okay, but Pure Vodka should not be okay. Absolut has pressed to have these age-old restrictions removed (since way back in 2006), but they don’t appear to be going anywhere fast. The rationale has been that it’s very difficult to define what is and isn’t “pure,” so it’s best to put the term off limits. Thanks to Master Distiller Masters for bringing these labels to our attention.