More than six years in, many labels reflect the US at war. Above is Jim Beam “Operation Homefront” Bourbon. The idea is to “provid[e] physical and emotional support for military families in your community.” The label doesn’t really say how, but the website does.
Brave Spirits was early to link spirits with supporting the military. TTB approved their Valor Vodka back in 2007. Brave donates $2 per bottle toward the military. Valenzano Sangria is the only one that outright shows the American flag; TTB does not usually allow it, but this one is restricted for sale in New Jersey only. Valenzano donates $1 per bottle to “Operation Troop Aid.”
The Intoxicologist recently said this form of marketing is tacky. What do you think?
Archives for April 2009
Banana Wine
No. It’s not banana flavored wine. It’s wine fermented from bananas. By contrast, the beer is beer flavored with bananas and banana flavor.
The banana wine (link above) is made by Florida Orange Groves, Inc. of St. Petersburg, Florida. This retailer tends to confirm it’s fermented from bananas, and this hobbyist among many others explains how to make it. Does anyone else find it surprising that he uses half a pound of banana skins?
The Banana Bread Beer is made by Wells & Young, in England, and imported by Belukus Marketing of Houston, Texas. Wells explains:
Wells Banana Bread Beer partly takes its name from the Saxon phrase for beer – ‘Liquid Bread.’ Combining a traditional ale recipe with the flavour of ‘Fair Trade’ bananas it creates an intriguing and flavoursome pint.
PLCB and St. Supery Comments; 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 16 in a series; to see others, click on the “serving facts” tag below.
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s 2-page comment said:
- the rule should provide that a standard serving is 1.5 fluid ounces for spirits, 12 ounces for beer and 5 ounces for wine.
- the panel should explain that “a standard drink contains 0.6 fl. oz. of alcohol.”
- the Serving Facts panel should show the amount of alcohol per serving.
By contrast, St. Supery Winery’s 1-page comment said:
- the proposal is burdensome and would provide “no additional useful information to consumers.”
- Most back labels already need a UPC and a Government Warning and this additional information is likely to crowd out the product descriptions that consumers want.
- Wines fluctuate considerably from tank to bottling and this could require extra testing and expense.
- This will raise our costs; we will pass those along to wholesalers and they will get magnified along the way to consumers. Most consumers would rather have lower costs compared to extra, already-available information.
Are they right?
Dandelion Wine
Today we have dandelion wine. This piqued our interest because we have heard faint murmurings about dandelion wine for many decades but never really tasted it or knew much about it, so we thought it was time to get a handle on the situation. As it turns out, the murmurings seem to have more to do with Ray Bradbury’s 1957 novel of the same name, and less to do with the popularity of this wine.
We find very little information about the history of this wine. Bigger Than Your Head describes it as well as anyone else we could find:
The closest I have come to a glass of dandelion wine was reading Ray Bradbury’s evocative novel about Midwestern small-town life, Dandelion Wine, about 50 years ago. … One expects a flower wine to be sweet, and this was, but it wasn’t as sweet as I had anticipated. In fact, I found it delicate, finely structured and just balanced by clean acidity. Aromas of spiced pear and fig wafted from the glass, with hints of dusty meadows. In the mouth, those spiced pear and fig qualities persisted, with touches of something wild and foxy, a little weedy, all of this encompassed by a texture that was almost oily. The finish brought in cinnamon and hay. It felt as if I were sipping the essence of a sunny summer’s afternoon on a blustery Fall day.
TTB has approved quite a few dandelion wines, and even some dandelion beers. The beer is made by Northern Ales of Northport, Washington. The dandelion wine is classified as an agricultural wine and made by Ackerman Winery of Amana, Iowa.
Boarding Pass and Grateful Palate Wines
We thought this was a good example of unusual label design, and so did Mike Carter. Mike probably knows quite a bit more about art and design, compared to us, but then again we’ve looked at as many wine labels as anyone. Who is Mike Carter?
For more than a decade Mike has been helping wine companies reduce their print & packaging costs and improve supply chain efficiency. Mike is also a published author with articles published on wine.co.za, Practical Winery & Vineyard and WineLand magazines. Mike earned his MBA at Bond University and lives in Somerset West, South Africa.
His blog covers wine label design, very well. We also wanted to mention the above label because The Grateful Palate seems to have a propensity to find uncommon labels. We have showed their Punk and Evil wine labels in the past.
For All Those Having Trouble with Pants Staying On
We would never want to suggest that alcohol can solve all the world’s problems.
But, for those having trouble keeping their pants on, we would strongly recommend just a small dose of the Pantius Droppus. It’s made by The Ellicottville Brewing Company of Ellicottville, New York.
And for those having trouble with another person’s pants staying on, we would have to recommend the Panty Peeler (above).
It’s not a small problem.