I say ‘would’ cause the prudes in maine have an issue with the label. I guess the beer gets distributed elsewhere. Except Maine…and Alabama.
The beer gets distributed in places that matter.
In a complaint filed in federal court, Shelton Brothers accuses the Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement of censorship for denying applications for labels for Santa’s Butt Winter Porter and two other beers it wants to sell in Maine.
The dispute recalls a similar squabble last year when Connecticut told Shelton Brothers it had problems with its Seriously Bad Elf ale.
“Last year it was elves. This year it’s Santa. Maybe next year it’ll be reindeer,” said Daniel Shelton, owner of the company in Belchertown, Mass.
[…]
“There is no good reason for the state to censor art, even art found on a beer label,” said Zachary Heiden, staff attorney for the MCLU.
The label for the English-made Santa’s Butt Winter Porter features a rear view of a beer-drinking Santa Claus sitting atop a barrel. The beer’s name refers not only to Santa’s ample backside, but also to the barrel. In England, brewers once used a large barrel called a “butt” to store beer.
[…]
States have the power to regulate alcohol through the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition in 1933. “But I don’t know where they get the idea they can ignore the rest of the Constitution,” Shelton said.
(via 7d and mywaynews and Shelton Brothers beer)
