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?
Search Results for: ttb
American Medical Association Comment; Top 7 Things to Know
It is likely that all beer, wine and spirits labels will change dramatically in the near future. TTB has been working on new rules since CSPI and other groups submitted a petition in 2003. The new rules would require a “Serving Facts” panel on every container. This panel would include a lot more information, such as the typical serving size, number of servings per container, calories, carbohydrates, protein and fat. Because this is a big, controversial change, TTB has received more than 18,000 public comments during the past few years. There are far too many comments for most people to review, and so we will highlight and summarize the most noteworthy comments here. The most recent proposal and comments are here. This is comment 3 in a series; to see others, click on the “serving facts” tag below.
- The AMA believes “The public desires and deserves accurate information on ingredients and potential allergens in alcoholic beverages.”
- “Consumers are confused about the type and amount of alcohol” in newer products such as wine coolers, “alcopops,” and “high malt content beer products with names and packaging deceptively similar to those of same-brand distilled spirits.”
- Roughly half of all alcoholic beverages are consumed by persons with alcohol use disorders.
- “Serving Facts” should appear in a consistent manner across all labels, all containers including kegs, and even all ads.
- All labels and ads should disclose all ingredients (such as caffeine, additives, preservatives).
- The Serving Facts panel should show alcohol based on grams of ethanol, and “proof” should be phased out.
- Labels and ads should show a “standard drink” (equal to about 14 grams or 0.6 fluid ounces of pure alcohol). They should also show the number of servings per container in fluid ounces of pure alcohol. This should be done with a “consistent graphic symbol.”
Citrus Wine: Grapefruit and Lemon
One of our favorite themes is that alcohol beverages can be made from just about anything lying around the kitchen, and the TTB approvals tend to bear this out. Although the overwhelming majority of wines are made from all manner of grapes, a massive quantity of wine is also made from various types of citrus. Orange wines are common. Above is a grapefruit wine vinted and bottled by Revolution Wines of Sacramento, CA. A second example is Bullfrog Lemon Table Wine, produced and bottled by Jules J. Berta Vineyards of Albertville, AL. These wines do not bear a vintage date and TTB does not allow vintage dates on other than grape wines.
Miller Brewing Comment; Top 5 Things to Know
It is likely that all beer, wine and spirits labels will change dramatically in the near future. TTB has been working on new rules since CSPI and other groups submitted a petition in 2003. The new rules would require a “Serving Facts” panel on every container. This panel would include a lot more information, such as the typical serving size, number of servings per container, calories, carbohydrates, protein and fat. Because this is a big, controversial change, TTB has received more than 18,000 public comments during the past few years. There are far too many comments for most people to review, and so we will highlight and summarize the most noteworthy comments here. The most recent proposal and comments are here. This is comment 2 in a series; to see others, click on the “serving facts” tag below.
- Miller supports the initiative as “appropriate and timely.” This is a not-so-common instance where the big alcohol beverage companies, the anti-alcohol groups, and the government are on the same side.
- TTB should allow the information to be shown in a smaller, linear format, rather than the larger, panel format. It will cost Miller about 14 times more (as much as $39 million) to show the information in the panel format. “The dramatically higher … deployment costs for the panel display are primarily the result of higher design … costs required to begin using the display panel, particularly on bottles of beer which would require additional label space that does not currently exist on millions of bottles.”
- TTB should not allow alcohol content to be presented by way of ounces of pure alcohol and should not allow any format other than percentage alcohol by volume.
- On many containers, such as kegs, the panel format will not fit. TTB should exempt kegs, or at least allow the linear format. TTB has successfully used the linear format, on light beer, for more than 30 years.
- TTB should resist any temptation to make alcohol beverage labels look like FDA food labels, because the products, purposes and effects differ greatly.
Is Miller right?
Lipstick on a Pi……..not Grigio
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.”
MADD Comment; Top 5 Things to Know
It is likely that all beer, wine and spirits labels will change dramatically in the near future. TTB has been working on new rules since CSPI and other groups submitted a petition in 2003. The new rules would require a “Serving Facts” panel on every container. This panel would include a lot more information, such as the typical serving size, number of servings per container, calories, carbohydrates, protein and fat. Because this is a big, controversial change, TTB has received more than 18,000 public comments during the past few years. There are far too many comments for most people to review, and so we will highlight and summarize the most noteworthy comments here. The most recent proposal and comments are here. This is comment 1 in a series; to see others, click on the “serving facts” tag below.
- MADD has “no objections to the responsible use of alcohol by adults.”
- Thousands die each year due to misjudging (or ignoring) rules of responsible consumption.
- “Standard drinks” labeling will better educate consumers.
- There should be equivalence among beer, wine and spirits, based on a standard drink equal to 0.6 fluid ounces of pure alcohol.
- The facts panel should require a moderation message such as “no more than two drinks for men, one drink per day for women.”
Is MADD right?
