How many prognosticators, and beer companies, need to foretell the end of the world, before we see it coming?

The Mayans were early to call this thing, a couple of thousand years ago. But since then, Stevens Point Brewery has notably called it, with their 2012 Black Ale. The label explains that “The ancient Mayans developed a ‘Long-Count’ round calendar that ends ominously on December 21, 2012. This date is the inspiration for the name of this Ale.” Box 19 of the form explains that the date is nothing major like “a vintage date, production date, cellar date or sell-by date.” It’s only the end of the world.

A handful of Tequila labels back up this prophecy. The Luna Nueva Tequila labels show a few cavorting cadavers, and refer to “2012 The Mayan Prophecy.” Box 19 of the form explains that “The ancient Mayan believed that time runs in cycles and the last recorded cycle ends on [December 21, 2012].”

As if that weren’t bad enough or soon enough, this Oregon brewer is getting ready with Apocalypse IPA, and this New Zealand brewer has Armageddon IPA. Lest anyone tremble, my favorite line from the Wikipedia page is where NASA says the 2012 predictions may be comparable to those surrounding the Y2K bug.

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TTB/ATF first allowed this brand name in 1997, for a malt beverage with natural flavors. A 1999 approval is shown above on the left, and the most recent approval is on the right above. Just a few months after the the 2008 approval, Anheuser-Busch apparently killed Tequiza in favor of Bud Light Lime. At this point, it’s gone almost without a trace, like Champale, Zima and other fading memories.

A lot of the branding stayed the same over the course of twelve years and 29 label approvals. But the legal description got trimmed considerably, during that time, to remove all references to the “NATURAL FLAVOR OF MEXICAN TEQUILA.” This part apparently went too far for the Tequila industry, or TTB, to accept, even if the brand name and agave references did not.

By way of another example, from the movies, Little Fockers probably would not be PG-13 if spelled with a u.

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Well it’s not exactly the Elvis-type decanter so popular in the age of Mad Men, but here is a bottle that more or less breaks the conventional mold. Republic Tequila is imported by Momentum Brands, of Austin, Texas. The Jim Beam Club site has a good collection of, well, collectible decanters, and we wonder if Republic is sufficient to make the cut.

This is an example of a “distinctive container” (as at item 18(c) of the approval) and helps explain why the familiar COLA form happens to mention bottle approval (and not just label approval) in the name of the form. Thanks to a friendly person in Texas for sending this photo.

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The last post covered some of the most famous singers ever to appear on alcohol beverage labels. Today, we go off in search of the most famous songs to appear on such labels. Not the most famous songs about booze; that’s a big topic for another day.

There are so many labels paying tribute to so many songs. I am sure the astute reader can find examples more famous than those above, but these three are mighty famous, and appear on this list of the greatest rock songs.

Rosalita is red wine produced and bottled by Aspect Wines of San Francisco, California. It pays tribute to the Bruce Springsteen song.

Hotel California is Tequila imported by Sipping Spirits of Glastonbury, Connecticut. It pays tribute to the Eagles song. It has no overt reference to Tequila but Henley, Frey and Felder apparently did not read CFR Title 27 carefully; they wantonly mingle wine and spirits, singing:

So I called up the captain, “Please bring me my wine”
He said, “We haven’t had that spirit here since 1969″

And Margaritaville of course pays tribute to the famous Jimmy Buffett song. The song is pretty much drenched in Tequila and Buffett still owns the rights to this name.

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The parade of celebrity beverage purveyors continues. This time it’s Justin Timberlake, with a Tequila called 901. TTB approved it in early 2009. The Examiner explains:

This past winter Justin Timberlake was “spied” wandering the Mexican state of Jalisco scoping out tequilas. We soon learned he was launching a label called 901 (as in both the area code of JT’s home state and the evening hour when the Par-taaayyy gets rolling…well, in other parts of the country anyway).

DIAB is the importer, based in St. Louis, Missouri. TTB records show exactly zero other approvals for DIAB, run by Kevin Ruder.

Ruder spent 12 years with Anheuser Busch, overseeing that company’s initial forays into spirits as well as the company’s “entertainment sponsorships and celebrity relationships,” according to the press profile. A couple of years ago, Ruder founded Diab … and spent two years developing 901 with Timberlake.  They visited 10 distilleries in the Mexican state of Jalisco before striking a deal with Tequilera Newton.

A similarly famous singer was a few years earlier. In about 2007 Madonna launched a Michigan wine with her father.

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