Comments on: Good Beer No Shi*

By: Annie Tunheim

Annie Tunheim — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:58:07 +0000

Interestingly, Raging Bitch is approved in the state of West Virginia (head out to your nearest liquor store!).

By: Lori Hensley

Lori Hensley — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:18:29 +0000

I wonder if WVA also has a problem with Flying Dogs’ Raging Bitch beer? (It’s fantastic by the way)

By: Nicholas Sarwark

Nicholas Sarwark — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:51:14 +0000

Yeah, the state can prohibit misleading or otherwise harmful speech in the name of consumer protection, but that limitation must meet the Central Hudson standards for regulating commercial speech. This obviously doesn’t, but someone has to put the time in to go to court to make that clear.

I think my next 6-pack will be a Flying Dog product.

By: Annie Tunheim

Annie Tunheim — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:48:27 +0000

Currently, Flying Dog products are sold in 46 states and only one state finds our Road Dog label vulgar–West Virginia. And Nicholas is right–we have better things to do with our time than to put up a fight with West Virginia. We welcome West Virginians to drive across the border and enjoy a great ‘vulgar’ beer.
Annie Tunheim
Compliance Attorney
Flying Dog Brewery

By: DJ @ Fermentarium

DJ @ Fermentarium — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:06:21 +0000

It’s a “consumer protection” thing. For example you cannot claim your beer cures cancer. The first amendment would not apply in this case. That’s the banner the states hide behind. You can’t have cartoon characters on beer, and you can’t have profanity because a child might see it. It’s the “won’t somebody think of the children” argument. It’s a weak argument, and it’s fallen in most cases where it is challenged. The problem is challenging the label requirements is expensive, and smaller brewers can’t afford the fight.

By: admin

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:05:05 +0000

Nicholas, You may well be right about the spelling. The word didn’t bother us so much that we turned the page and ran away, but I also don’t feel any burning desire to type out the word yet again. I am content to leave it to Flying Dog, for now.

By: Nicholas Sarwark

Nicholas Sarwark — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:58:57 +0000

While there are lower protections for commercial speech than political speech under the First Amendment, I don’t see how regulation of speech on a alcoholic beverage label is a state right.

I mean, I see how states can make rules about what labels are allowed, but I don’t see how those rules could ever trump the First Amendment. Not that Flying Dog doesn’t have better stuff to do than fight the state of Kansas…

Also, is it really necessary to self-censor the blog post on a free speech label like this? It kind of defeats the point of the story, since there was no fight to put “Good Beer, No Shi “[sic] on the label; the fight was over the word itself.