Not that I read the PETA stuff every day, but I could not resist when I stumbled on PETA’s article entitled, “Is Wine Vegan?” It makes the point that:

The majority of people are unaware that wine, although made from grapes, may have been made using animal-derived products. During the winemaking process, the liquid is filtered through substances called “fining agents.” This process is used to remove protein, yeast, cloudiness, “off” flavors and colorings, and other organic particles. Popular animal-derived fining agents used in the production of wine include blood and bone marrow, casein (milk protein), chitin (fiber from crustacean shells), egg albumen (derived from egg whites), fish oil, gelatin (protein from boiling animal parts), and isinglass (gelatin from fish bladder membranes). Thankfully, there are several common fining agents that are animal-friendly and used to make vegan wine. Carbon, bentonite clay, limestone, kaolin clay, plant casein, silica gel, and vegetable plaques are all suitable alternatives.

For those who would prefer not to torment an animal in the course of pouring a glass of wine, The Vegan Wine Guide already lists more than 400 wines. The Vegan Vine seems like a good example. As I flipped through a few of the 400, I was not surprised to see that few if any make direct claims that the wine qualifies as “vegan.” After all, TTB is not known for being footloose and fancy-free about various claims. Foursight Wines has said:

[we were] pleased that the TTB allowed us to state that our wines are suitable for vegetarian and vegan diets. Clos La Chance has begun marketing all vegan wines, but the TTB didn’t allow them to say that the wines didn’t use animal products (see the Wines & Vines article here). Frey is a noted vegan producer but their wines don’t list it on the label. So, unless anyone out there has a correction for me, I have yet to find another U.S. producer with a vegan and vegetarian statement on their wine labels.

If your tastes run in the other direction, you may prefer these libations replete with animal byproducts.

Tags:

ingredients, policy, speech

Posted in:

wine

I have not spent a lot of time in Austin, Texas, but I like the slogan:  Keep Austin Weird. I am thinking about this today because, quite often, it occurs to me that the alcohol beverage industry, similarly, seems to draw more than its fair share of eccentrics. In my view, that’s a good thing and helps make it a fun place to spend a career.

I am thinking about the distiller who lit his finger on fire in the office, to make sure we understand that his product is the real deal.  I am thinking about the client who owns a small island in the Caribbean, and once ditched his Rolls-Royce by the side of the road to sail around the world with a monkey. I am thinking about the Tequila importer who said 20 minutes was more than enough time to get across town, to our front section seats at Madison Square Garden, for Elton John’s 60th birthday concert.  (Little did I know that he’d park his big Mercedes at the adjacent curb and scurry up a back-alley entrance, midway through President Clinton’s introduction.)  I am also thinking about the beer executive who wore a green leisure suit, all day, on St. Patrick’s Day a while back.

It would not be better, if everything were plain like a Safeway-brand Vodka. In this spirit, I look forward to raising up a glass of Dumante Pistachio Liqueur — a nutty spirit indeed. A Louisville publication explains that David Dafoe, a “beverage architect” is one of the forces behind this unconventional product, along with lawyer-and-pistachio-devotee Howard Sturm. The Louisville article further explains:

Dafoe apparently is creating Epicenter, a center/distillery/entertainment complex where you can watch booze being made and bottled, then buy the first products made in downtown Louisville since Prohibition started 93 years ago. … For more than 20 years, Flavorman has been proud to be the beverage development partner for premier companies across the United States,” said Dafoe. … The Epicenter is part of a growing national trend toward artisan distilleries. While there were 143 distilled spirits plant licensees in the United States in 2006, there are now over 700.

We look forward to meeting the next fun and eccentric clients, and working with them to keep beer, wine and spirits off-centered — or nutty — or anything but boring.

Tags:

business strategy, ingredients

Posted in:

liqueur

This post will start short but is likely to grow long over time. Very long. We will try to show the enormous range of foodstuffs from which wine is produced. With each post we will add to the list, and I predict it will grow way past 50 60 70. Today we add Honeydew wine to the list.

1. Agave wine
2. Apple wine
3. Apricot wine
4. Aronia berry wine
5. Avocado wine
6. Banana wine
7. Blackberry wine
8. Blueberry wine
9. Buffaloberry wine
10. Cantaloupe wine
11. Cherry wine
12. Cranberry wine
13. Dandelion wine
14. Elderberry wine
15. Elder flower wine
16. Fig wine
17. Garlic wine
18. Gooseberry wine
19. Grape wine
20. Hibiscus wine
21. Honeydew wine. Made by Long Trout Winery of Auburn, Pennsylvania.
22. Huckleberry wine
23. Jasmine fruit wine
24. Kiwi wine
25. Linden flower wine
26. Lingonberry
27. Lychee wine
28. Maple Wine
29. Mango wine
30. Mangosteen wine
31. Marionberry wine
32. Onion wine
33. Peach wine
34. Pear wine
35. Pepper wine
36. Persimmon wine
37. Pineapple wine
38. Pomegranate wine
39. Rhubarb wine
40. Strawberry wine
41. Tomato wine
42. Watermelon wine

Tags:

ingredients

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fruit wine

As this blog enters its fifth (gulp, yes, fifth) calendar year, it has covered many bacon-related concoctions. There was of course this bacon flavored vodka in 2009 and this bacon flavored beer in 2010.

Although it’s not clear that any of the earlier-featured bacon-related products contained actual bacon, it was only a matter of time until something like Bacon Brown Ale came along. It is Ale Brewed with Buckwheat and Bacon, made by Uncommon Brewers, of Santa Cruz, California. The brewer explains:

We’re not faking our flavor with smoked malts, Bac-O Bits or other tricks that some breweries are using to create their bacon beers … . There’s real cured pork in that beer.

Even though the government would probably not allow anything resembling a health claim regarding normal beer, wine or spirits — whether tongue in cheek or not — everyone seems to have a soft spot for bacon. The TTB-approved label does indeed proclaim that “bacon makes everything better.”

Tags:

ingredients, therapeutic, unlikely combinations

Posted in:

flavored malt beverage

I do believe this Olde Bay Saison label raises at least a few legal issues. First of all, I sure hope the brewer had permission to use this famous branding. McCormick owns the Old Bay seasoning brand and probably would not have a sense of humor about any unauthorized uses. Even if the beer is loaded up with the same seasoning, and even if the reference tends to be flattering. I can not imagine that changing one letter (from Old to Olde) is likely to help any more. The total production for this ale with spices seems to have been tiny, so that may help somewhat more to avoid problems.

A second legal issue is that, such a beer needs formula approval, before label approval and production. To get formula approval, it is usually necessary to provide a detailed ingredient list to TTB. It can be very difficult for anyone to get ingredient details (beyond what FDA typically requires on a food label’s ingredient list) about famous and protected products like Coca-Cola, Angostura Bitters, or Old Bay. TTB typically needs to check for artificial flavors, allergens, colors, and use-rate limitations, and this can be very difficult to do without a complete ingredient list of the sort that McCormick would be unlikely to provide to the brewer here (The D.O.G. Beverage Co. of Westminster, Maryland). So this raises the question of whether this beer actually contains Old Bay seasoning, or TTB did not require details about all 18 ingredients, or D.O.G. somehow got hold of the ingredient list.

Tags:

fda, ingredients, policy, trademark, unlikely combinations

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flavored malt beverage