Distinctive container? Box 18c of this approval says it is.

Kodiak Imports, of San Diego, California, has several TTB approvals for spirits products packed in containers that look quite a bit like fire extinguishers. If you stop and think about it, the brand name doesn’t exactly suggest that it puts out fires, and the back label points out that “This is not a fire extinguisher.” Then again, it does look a lot like exactly that. The website says “The multi award winning packaging looks like a fire extinguisher, complete with a locking pin, lever, and a nozzle through which Firestarter Vodka is poured.” Thank goodness it’s only 80 proof.

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container, speaks for itself

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distilled spirits specialty, vodka

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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container

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tequila

It looks a fair amount like Tourment Absinthe, but this time around it’s beer. Or, more specifically, Tourment “Absine Refresher” Gargoyle Citrus is a malt beverage with wormwood and other flavors. The product is made by City Brewing Company of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and it has also been approved in a Bohemian Berry version.

From time to time, TTB explains that there is no specific US standard for “absinthe,” so we wonder if it was really necessary to drop the TH out of ABSINE.

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container, hybrid, ingredients

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absinthe, flavored malt beverage

Distinctive liquor bottle indeed. Here is Popsy, complete with the 17c distinctive liquor bottle approval box checked off. This liqueur is made in Germany and imported by Import ANT Wines of Venice, Florida.

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container, dairy, risqué, sexual, speaks for itself, would you approve it?, would you drink it?

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cream liqueur

It only takes a few minutes to upload your label to COLAs Online, if it only has about one panel, such as this beer label. On the other hand, if you have a bag-in-box container, it’s a lot more work. TTB wants every panel of the box uploaded separately. Gallo’s Peter Vella wine is a good example of how TTB wants it. Each of six panels is uploaded so that the entire label approval runs six feet or more when printed.

It is common for bag-in-box containers to show the equivalent measure in bottles, ounces or glasses. This can trip up the unwary, as in this recent rejection. TTB generally requires not just the size of the box but also the size of each unit to which the box is compared (for example, “5L is equivalent to 6.5 750 ml. bottles”). The Vella label shows how TTB wants it.

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container, policy, rejections

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wine