Flying Dog Brewery’s CEO Jim Caruso refers to his business as a “First Amendment Brewery.” Because he continues to fight for beer labels.
This was initiated by Colorado’s Liquor Commission, in 1995, who objected at the “Good Beer, No Shit” label.
He was told by bureaucrats to “Pull the beer off the market or we suspend you license,” he said in his new video. He could have been out of business.
Caruso says that I’m happy we can say “shit” in the interview. However, I understand why regulators don’t want this word.
“Want free speech?” Caruso answers. Caruso responds, “You must respect this in others.”
Four years of legal battles later, Colorado’s Supreme Court ruled against the liquor commission. It ruled that no shit is allowed to speak freely after “no shit”.
Michigan’s liquor regulator banned the sale of another Caruso beer called “Raging Bitch” (remember that it was “Flying”) Dog“Beer brewery.”
Bureaucrats claimed that the label was harmful to the public’s health, safety, and well-being. Caruso was told by the bureaucrats that Oprah does not use this word in her program.
Oprah
Michigan police told him to remove Raging Bitch off the shelves or they would confiscate it.
Caruso was again taken to court.
Are you willing to live in a country that government bureaucrats can, on the basis of whims and personal preferences, restrict what you don’t want? Caruso asks. “Movies. Books. Music lyrics. News stories.
I answer, “No,” “But, I wouldn’t like to fight about a beer name. Care? You can change the beer’s name.
All of these fights take place at the margin. Caruso replies, “That is where everything controversial’s at.” “By then it is too late to defend something mainstream.”
Six more years later, he was awarded the victory. He was awarded a second victory by the court.
Since Caruso’s beers were already approved by the federal government, you’d expect that the bureaucrats knew this. Every American brewer must submit each label to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, a federal bureaucracy.
This makes me wonder: What is the point of separate regulation for every state?
My guess is that bureaucrats are looking for jobs and politicians want to spend our money.
Caruso complained that, in addition to the many pages of regulations from the federal government, “every state has its own regulations.” I think Maryland is 300-some pages, single-spaced….The cost and time for compliance is onerous.”
North Carolina’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission has rejected “Freezin’ Season”, a Caruso beer.
It depicts a cartoon man standing before a fire. It might be a naked man…or not. One tiny line could be a sign of a man naked if you look closely at it. Penis
No! Who is going to save us? North Carolina’s BEEReaucrats
Caruso was told by the parents that it was inappropriate to expose their children to this image. They cited Rule 15b 1003-3(2), which forbids labelling that is in poor taste, unmodest or otherwise offensive.
Bureaucrats love writing lines like “Rule 15b 1003-3(2).” North Carolina had already rejected more than 300 other beer labels—such as “Polygamy Porter,” “Beergasm,” and “Hedonism.”
Caruso sued because rejected breweries often just export their banned beers outside of the state they were in. It’s admirable that he spent his own money in defense of a principle.
North Carolina approved North Carolina’s beer just days before the first hearing. They said their “change of heart” made it moot.
Caruso continued his lawsuit anyway and stated that it was not just about one beer label. This is about removing an unconstitutional statute!
He also pointed out, “If it was to protect the children before, and now they’ve lifted the ban, they’re either sacrificing children at the altar of evading a preliminary hearing, or they’re just full of shit.”
North Carolina’s Liquor Commission wouldn’t allow an interview.
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