I felt sure this statement was famous and handed down from the ages. But even the mighty Google has not been able to locate the origin of this statement. The Peasant is 15.3% red wine produced by Four Vines Winery of Paso Robles, California. The label says:  “Temperance, like chastity, is its own punishment.” Temperance and chastity are two of the seven virtues. For each of the virtues, there is a corresponding sin, totaling “seven deadly sins.” In the case of this label, temperance opposes gluttony and chastity opposes lust.

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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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In many areas, TTB is fairly literal-minded. For example, if you are bound and determined to mention energy on your label, you are unlikely to get very far, without much regard to context, as in this example. Likewise, good luck if you want to use the term “organic” on anything not in line with the organic rules.

In other areas, though, TTB will view a term much less literally. Mother’s Milk Shiraz is one such example. As best I can tell, it contains no milk. There is a recognition that the term is not to be taken seriously, even though it is quite possible to make a wide variety of alcohol beverages with and from real milk. This vodka distilled from milk is but one example.

If you gave up Mother’s Milk before third grade, you may prefer Dragon’s Milk. Another alternative is Devil’s Milk. Even without ingredient labeling I am reasonably sure that the Devil contributed no milk whatsoever to DuClaw’s ale.

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Way back in December of 2008 we ran Part 1 and Part 2. We didn’t really expect to see too many more variations on this theme, or that it could go a whole lot further. But alas we may have underestimated the frat-boy contingent of the alcohol beverage industry. Not that we think it does or should offend any “adult beverage” consumer.

Perhaps the liqueur is Chinese and pronounced Fu-Chen. Perhaps the ale is German. It’s quite possible that our mind is in the gutter, and these labels have nothing whatever to do with sex, but we wouldn’t put any money on it.

Lest anyone be unduly offended, I have two kids and I am pretty sure it would take something more than this to set them off kilter.

The Fokker Ale is made by Azalea Coast Brewing, in Wilmington, North Carolina.

The Fuchen Liqueur is herbal liqueur, imported by BPNC of Temperance, Michigan. We appreciate the irony that this liquor company is situated in Temperance of all places, and a lot of other people apparently felt the same way, as the company has recently changed its name to The Temperance Distilling Company.

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Sin City seems to be alive and well in the hearts and minds of drinkers and marketers everywhere. Sin City Whiskey (above) is imported by Side Pocket Foods of Oregon. Viva Las Vegas is a California white wine bottled by Cartlidge & Browne Winery of American Canyon, California.

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There is a huge, long history of associating alcohol beverages with death and demise. In recent US history, this is famously illustrated by the Black Death Vodka episode of the 1990s. This trend shows no signs of abating.

Rigor Mortis Ale is made in Quebec, Canada and is imported by Shelton Brothers. The label does not explain why the product is adorned with a rotting corpse and snails and ants. Would you rather stare at a frosty glacier or a rotting corpse as you quaff a brew? Wikipedia explains that rigor mortis is:

postmortem rigidity due to buildup of lactic acid, which causes “the actin and myosin filaments of the muscle fibers [to] remain linked until the muscles begin to decompose.” (In simpler terms, this means that the muscles become stiff because there is a build up of the waste of the energy producing process of the body. This buildup is because the chained tissues of muscles hook together and stick until the body starts to decompose. During decomposition, this buildup is broken down over time.) Immediately following death the body is flaccid. It becomes increasingly rigid over time due to lack of ATP and buildup of lactic acid. This process happens in stages over the first thirty six hours post mortem.

We are not sure if Reaper Ale is more or less upbeat. On one small label it sports a grim reaper, skulls, a black crow, a scythe, and a tombstone. It appears there is a good market for beers you are just barely unafraid to drink.

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Yesterday we discussed a scholarly article on the F-Word, in F-Words, F-Bombs and Booze, Part 1. That post was long on discussion and short on examples, so here are several examples of approved labels, raising a similar term and topic.

First and perhaps most famous is Effen Vodka. It’s possible the brand name refers to something other than what Potts is talking about, but somehow we believe they are thinking of roughly the same thing. As Potts explains, this term has always been mired in ambiguity, and that accounts for much of its power and popularity. The ambiguity also, we suppose, helps it get approved.

Second is Fricken Beer, as above. Indian River Brewing, of Melbourne, Florida, is hoping you too will walk up to the bartender and say “Get me a Fricken Beer.” If you don’t get slapped, it might be refreshing.

Third is Big F’n Syrah. It is a robust Yakima Syrah with overtones of the F-Word. We have a few additional F-Word labels but please let us know if you see others.

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Cary Wiggins alerted us to a recent, scholarly article about, of all things, the F-word. His blog, called Meeting the Sin Laws, covers the intersection of sin, vice, alcohol beverages, and the law.

Wiggins points to The Connotations of the F-Word. This is a post in The Language Log; it is a blog run out of the University of Pennsylvania since 2003. The post is by Chris Potts, a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He wants to get a better understanding of why people tend to remain so fascinated with this term (and other “taboo vocabulary”). He wants to know:

Does it in fact have sexual connotations even when used as an intensive, as in Bono’s “really, really f-ing brilliant”?

Ed. note: F-word modified.

It’s not an idle topic; the FCC needs to grapple with this and so does TTB. Potts applies some fancy academics to this not so fancy topic, with cosine measures, cooccurrences, fleeting expletives, formal linguistic theories, latent semantic analysis, and even rubrics of framing. He does not necessarily conclude that the term has much to do with sex.

This topic has a fair amount of relevance here, because this terminology pops up on alcohol beverage labels more often than you might expect. Above is but one leading example. Tomorrow we plan to show several others. Do you think the F-Word is okay on booze labels?

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It is no surprise that the anti-alcohol forces of yore regarded alcohol beverages as a poison. Professor Hanson confirms that the Prohibitionists “taught that alcohol was a poison.” More recently, this 2008 lawsuit is replete with allegations that MillerCoors is selling poison. But it’s quite another thing when the purveyors themselves brand their products as Poizin. The above is a Sonoma County Zinfandel from Armida Winery. A second example is Poison Wild Berry Schnapps Liqueur, approved in 2002. These are not to be confused with Christian Dior Poison Eau de Toilette, or this.

Contributor Lance M. weighed in as follows:

This Poizin, thankfully, will not kill you (well unless you are irresponsible and consume more than your fair share). Armida’s packaging of their Poizin is designed to draw your eye. The bottle is black with a red skull and crossbones prominently portrayed on the front of the label. The wine contained is a 2004 Zinfandel, though they continue to produce it on a regular basis, and other years are available.

The thoughtful play on the words poison and zinfandel instantly draws your attention to it. There is some well written dark imagery of a supernatural winemaking process on the back label, that concludes with “Poizin, the wine to die for.”

The “Reserve” version of the wine is packed in a pine box fashioned like a casket which has the logo on the lid. In addition, the Reserve version also has the neck of the bottle dipped in red wax. The wine itself is actually very good and true to the Zinfandel pallet; The Wine Spectator gave the 2006 version an 83. The bottom line, not only do you get a nice wine, but a collectible bottle as well.

Does this at long last answer the question at upper left of Liqurious?

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Poteen has been around so long it was banned in 1661. But still, it has not been around long enough to have its own class/type. TTB has hundreds of categories (including the obscure such as diluted rum and dried brandy) but classified Knockeen Hills with “other specialties & proprietaries” rather than in its own category. Poteen is also known as Potcheen and is traditionally made in Ireland, at a high alcohol content. The name is short for the pot (“pota” in Irish) in which it is distilled. Poteen is usually made from barley or potatoes and this one is Grain Neutral Spirits with Natural Flavors, at 110 proof. The Irish Government has frowned on Poteen for many centuries (branding it as “moonshine,” as described on the back label here). But Ireland began allowing Poteen exports in 1989, domestic sale in 1997, and sought appellation status for Poteen in 2008. The back label says:

Poteen … has been brewed as Irish strong moonshine for several centuries … Butler’s Irish book published in 1660 claimed that “It enlighteneth ye heart, casts off melancholy, keeps back old age and breaketh ye wind.”

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