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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We have not seen wine products with added beer or hops. But here, just in time for epic Ten Ten Ten festivities, is beer with added wine or something very closely akin to it.

Vertical Epic is made by Stone Brewing of Escondido, California. It is classified as Ale Brewed with Muscat, Gewurztraminer and Sauvignon Blanc Grapes and Chamomile. We find it interesting that TTB could have, but apparently chose not to, say something like, please remove the grape names as they tend to misleadingly suggest that this is wine. The back label has some good information, such as pointing out that this is the ninth in a series, beginning with a 2/2/2002 beer and so on, “Each one released one year, one month and one day from the previous year’s edition.” The back label also has a helpful link to “a detailed home-brewing recipe.”

Stone’s blog, with lots of videos, further explains:

Initiated in 2002—when the notion that Stone might still be around in 2012 was more hope than certainty— the Stone Vertical Epic Ale series has given Stone brewers an avenue for creative expression while helping spread the good word about the benefits of cellaring beer.

Stone Head Brewer Mitch Steele, who studied enology at UC Davis and spent 8 years toiling as a vintner in his early days, made the trek up to South Coast to watch the grapes that would become 10.10.10 go from vine to juice.

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Time Magazine calls the above beer one of the world’s strongest. It looks to be considerably stronger than any beer that the US rules can tolerate. In other countries, Tactical Nuclear Penguin is sold as a beer, at 32% alc./vol.

But this approval shows that, under US rules, this “Super-High-Alcohol-Beer” is actually a distilled spirit (Spirits Distilled from Grain). The Time article explains how BrewDog uses low temperatures to get the alcohol content so high:

the brewery was able to attain the high alcohol content by freezing the beer at a local ice cream factory, at temperatures as low as -6°C (21°F), for 21 days. Alcohol freezes at lower temperatures than water, and removing water from the solution increased the alcohol concentration.

Under US law, such manipulation of the alcohol may be treated as distillation. The Time article points to two even stronger products that at least start as normal beers (before becoming tactical or nuclear):

The drinking games continued in February when a German brewer, Schorschbrau, released a 40% ABV beer called Schorschbock. The BrewDog boys fired back a few weeks later with high-octane concoction Sink the Bismarck!, which checks in at 41%, enough to reclaim the “world’s strongest beer” mantle. …

There is no sign that these other two have been approved for US sale at all yet, let alone as beer.

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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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These beer products look a lot like spirits, don’t you think?

They have a spirits-related brand name, common cocktail names, spirits-shaped bottles and an alcohol content that is high for beer. The website goes so far as to describe the first one as a “traditional margarita.” The other versions are Hurricane, Pina Colada and Long Island Iced Tea. In a bout of writing that would not make Don Draper proud, the Pina Colada back label would have you believe this product, going for a few bucks per bottle, is the next best thing to having your own island. If so, I wouldn’t want to draw whatever is third best.

Perhaps mxologi is an Anheuser-Busch response to the very successful line of malt beverages under the Smirnoff name. After all, the Smirnoff products certainly suggest spirits, and also happen to be made with sucralose.

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Here is a “delightfully chilling blend of Canadian icewine and vodka ~ VICE.” It is produced by Vineland Estates Winery, in Ontario, “one of Canada’s oldest and most renowned wineries.” The Vice website tends to suggest that Vineland would have liked to present this as a “martini,” but TTB can be protective of this term, and so it looks like Vineland settled for the term “cocktail” instead.

Speaking of vice, perhaps it’s time to sort out whether we are in the “vice” business or not. The Online Etymology Dictionary defines “vice” as “moral fault, wickedness.” The term dates back at least 700 years, to about 1300, from French. I can think of many things more wicked and fault-worthy than a 45 proof wine concoction, taxed and regulated out the wazoo. If this is vice, what is virtue? Here is a lawyer who scrupulously gravitates toward vice matters in his practice.

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At a 2009 National Alcohol Beverage Control Association (NABCA) panel discussion, Boston Beer Company’s Jim Koch boldly proclaimed that “beer is the new wine.”

According to Wine and Spirits Daily, Koch said:

With the emergence of the new mentality about beer driven by small craft brewers, America is starting to create a beer culture in the same way America has created a wine culture.

Is Koch right? The labels tell part of the story. Lately there are many examples of beer labels with terms and elements formerly associated only with wine.

First is Sierra Nevada’s Estate Brewer’s Harvest Ale. TTB sets forth strict rules for wine labeled with the word “estate.” One such rule is that the wine must be produced from grapes grown on land owned or controlled by the bottling winery. According to Greg Kitsock of the Washington Post, Sierra Nevada produces their Estate Ale with hops and barley grown only at their brewery in Chico. The label adds that “this ale reflects the flavors of our surroundings in California’s fertile Central Valley.”

Second is Trader Joe’s 2009 Vintage Ale, produced by Unibroue of Canada. For wine labels, it is clear that a vintage date means one thing: the year in which the grapes were harvested. What exactly does it mean on beer? The Trader Joe’s label tries to explain. “You might be used to seeing vintages on wine; perhaps not so much on beer. And that’s what makes this ale so special.” The label also says that the 2009 Vintage Ale was produced in 2009, in limited quantities, and that it tastes and looks different than those released in previous years.

Third is Blue Moon Grand Cru Limited Edition from MillerCoors. The labeling takes design cues from traditional Champagne labels. It has a vintage date and also mentions “Grand Cru” (meaning “great growth” in French), which is a term generally associated with French wines. Our last and maybe most famous example is Miller High Life, “The Champagne of Beers.”

From a labeling and marketing standpoint, it appears that some beers are trying to develop the same prestige that wine enjoys with the American public. So Koch may well be right. After all, he sells a single bottle of beer for $150, a price near or above that for many of Napa and Bordeaux’s finest.

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Beeradvocate shows over 400 barleywines, from the US alone. Because this type is common, but not nearly so well known as stout or rum, for example, we wanted to take a closer look. Beeradvocate says:

Despite its name, a Barleywine (or Barley Wine) is very much a beer, albeit a very strong and often intense beer! In fact, it’s one of the strongest of the beer styles. Lively and fruity, sometimes sweet, sometimes bittersweet, but always alcoholic. … English varieties are quite different from the American efforts, what sets them apart is usually the American versions are insanely hopped to make for a more bitter and hop flavored brew, typically using American high alpha oil hops. English versions tend to be more rounded and balanced between malt and hops, with a slightly lower alcohol content, though this is not always the case. … Most Barleywines can be cellared for years and typically age like wine. … Average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 8.0-15.0%.

Wikipedia provides additional details : “In the United States, barley wines are required … to be called ‘barley wine-style ales.’ Though this could be taken by some to imply that they are not truly barley wines, in fact it only means that they, like all barley wines, are not truly wines.” Bass was first, around 1900, and the term stems from the fact that many barleywines have an alcohol content similar to that for wine.

The above label nicely demonstrates the US “requirement” to add “Style Ale.” Based on this TTB definition for “wine,” we don’t see why it’s so obviously beer rather than wine:  “When used without qualification, the term includes every kind (class and type) of product produced on bonded wine premises from grapes, other fruit (including berries), or other suitable agricultural products and containing not more than 24 percent of alcohol by volume. The term includes all imitation, other than standard, or artificial wine and compounds sold as wine.” We do acknowledge, however, that this definition (for “malt beverage“) probably fits better.

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Here is dué. It claims to be “The World’s First Chardonnay Flavored Vodka.” It is made in Italy and imported by Francoli of California. Francoli also has a Merlot Flavored Vodka. Emily Haile found this approval from way back in 2001 and brought it to our attention.

The dué grape flavored vodkas are not to be confused with Ciroc. The latter is distilled directly from “Fine French Grapes,” as opposed to adding grape flavor to a grain vodka.

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This French Apple Cider provides a small taste of what is coming soon. It is our understanding that TTB has no plans to require or encourage ingredient labeling, such as that on the back label here. But TTB does have big plans to require Serving Facts Labeling (similar to this Nutrition Facts labeling) someday very soon. It’s a big, important change. There is a lot of data on this back label; much of it will be required in a few years and almost none of it would have been required 20 years ago. The Government Warning arrived 20 years ago and redemption labeling (as well as the UPC) started appearing a few decades ago. This COLA is unusual because FDA (not TTB) typically has authority over wines under 7% alc./vol. (such as this cider). But here the importer noted (at box 19) “submitting for review of health warning.” TTB retains control over the Warning and the wine tax, even in those instances where general labeling jurisdiction shifts over to FDA. Some time after approval, TTB apparently decided to hand this back to FDA, as the current status of this approval is “surrendered.”

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