Illicit Beer Bottle Caps Bring Feds Down on Calif. Brewer

First Amendment

Illicit Beer Bottle Caps Bring Feds Down on Calif. Brewer

Posted May 28, 2008, 04:42 pm CST
By Martha Neil

A beer brewer in a small California town named after a founding citizen and state senator, Abner Weed, has incurred the wrath of federal regulators by his tongue-in-cheek use of the town's name on bottle caps to help brand his product.

"Try LEGAL weed," they suggest. Around the rim of the cap is the slogan "A friend in Weed is a Friend Indeed," reports the Los Angeles Times. The newspaper article also prominently features a large overhead photograph of three bottles.

The problem is, the three words in the center of the caps promote marijuana use, according to the U.S. Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Plus they could also be confusing to consumers, by suggesting the beer contains an illicit substance, when it doesn't.

The feds have told Vaune Dillman, the 61-year-old owner of the Mt. Shasta Brewing Co., to change his bottle caps or face potential fines and other regulatory sanctions.

Happy about the promotion of their town, locals have tended to side with Dillman, the Times reports.

"It's just plain goofy to me the federal government is making so much of a fuss over this," says Mayor Chuck Sutton. "I can sort of understand their point, but it all seems a little overboard."

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Posted by JW - 6 months, 5 days, 6 hours, 7 minutes ago

This is absurd. First, only adults should be purchasing this beer. So is the federal gov’t so concerned that some adult is going to be convinced to use marijuana for the first time when they see these bottle caps—assuming they even read them to begin with. I can’t remember the last time I read a bottle cap—they usually just fall into the trash can when I pop the lid. If the feds are that worried, why not just have them put a disclaimer on the bottle—caution, this bottle does not contain weed—if you feel the urge to try weed after reading our bottle cap, please note our bottle does not contain any weed and it is illegal.
Posted by CJ - 6 months, 5 days, 5 hours, 28 minutes ago

Absurd indeed! And ludicrous, asinine, silly, stupid, and a whole host of other synonyms can be used to describe how utterly rediculous it is that the government believes that a bottle cap will induce someone to believe that a bottle of beer would contain an illegal substance. Have we become such a society of stupid people that we cannot discriminate between an advertising campaign and reality? And doesn’t the federal government have more important things to be spending its time doing?
Posted by AS - 6 months, 5 days, 3 hours, 23 minutes ago

And while they’re at it, the government better get Coke to do something about it’s product name, too.
Posted by Bay Area Associate - 6 months, 5 days, 2 hours, 25 minutes ago

I think it is ironic that the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is so critical about the bottle labels, when alcohol and tobacco are directly causing pandemic level health problems in our society.

And can anyone say 1st Amendment?
Posted by MR - 6 months, 5 days, 1 hour, 54 minutes ago

That’s what’s wrong with the feds: the war on drugs. And hypocrisy. Oh, and imperialism, denial of Constitutional rights, and having every priority completely out of order. They’d rather harass people into fear than take care of urgent problems like health care and education. This incident is an example of that.
Posted by Isaac Laquedem - 6 months, 5 days, 1 hour, 45 minutes ago

Isn’t it wonderful that the federal government doesn’t like it when sick Oregonians smoke marijuana to relieve their pain (we have a medical marijuana law), but steps in to complain that Californians don’t have marijuana in their beer? This explains a lot about the political differences between our two fair states.
Posted by Jen - 6 months, 5 days, 1 hour, 28 minutes ago

I agree with everyones comments so far, and will add that if we did legalize marijuana, we could solve our prison overcrowding problems, save a TON of money, and they could even collect taxes on sales.

But you know, we couldn’t do that… that might make sense. We all know that things that “make sense” aren’t “truthy” enough and that we kids should shut up while big daddy government tells us what to think.
Posted by no weed indeed - 6 months, 5 days, 1 hour, 22 minutes ago

Marijuana should not be legalized, but the town name of “Weed” ... come on. ot is a bad idea, a bad thing, a bad health risk. A recent news article indicated weed users have more problems. I know, you potheads and pro-legalization fans wil say that’s bunk, but it was in the news and I tend to think there’s something to it. The anti-social behavior weed inspires is bad. The lethargy and apathy it draws is bad. It is a time-waster. Time is precious. Encouraging drug use is a bad idea. We have real problems to solve, like renewable energy needs, global warming, justice and peace. Save the “legalization” for your buddies and you when you clandestinely suck a bong hit. Please, it is a thing to not encourage.
Posted by tdog - 6 months, 5 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes ago

Pot “should not be legalized” because you “read in the news” that its unhealthy, and it causes a waste of time? How fascist, I hope you’re not a lawyer. Life would suck if everything that was unhealthy or wasted your time was illegal (no cake or burgers, no silly movies or t.v.). Mind your own business and stop telling people what plants they can or can’t imbibe.
Posted by DQ - 6 months, 5 days, 52 minutes ago

I agree marijuana use is nothing to be encouraged, however, i equally believe it’s not deserving of having a ‘war’ against it. Persecution of recreational use of a ‘soft’ drug is as socially irresponsible as encouraging its use. I would surmise that decriminalizing it would indeed save tax dollars and would not bolster ‘encouragement’ as legalization would.
Posted by crazypeople - 6 months, 5 days, 1 minute ago

Americans illness plague can certainly be tied to an unhealthy life style, but the problem is really the FDA. The food eaten and supplied in this country is so lacking in nutrients and minerals that the body simply cannot withstand disease and illness, because it is incapable of repairing itself at a cellular level. Since our bodies our starved they grab what ever crap is in there and tries to build with it and creates crap on the cellular level.

Not too mention the variety of poisons everyone takes in from pesticides, flourine, prescriptions etc..

Anyways, the government is probably overstepping its bounds, but the promotion by the beer company is still in bad taste. Raising kids and helping them to mature into salt of the earth type people only gets harder with this type of marketing going on.

Sure beer is for adults, but kids will see it and probably drink it.
Posted by Joe Reisinger - 6 months, 4 days, 22 hours, 22 minutes ago

Just another example of too much government.
Ever notice how the number of aircrashes declines so radically after Regan fired so many air traffic controllers? As a safety minded pilot, I loved it. As an aviation insurance defense attorney, I had to go get a real job.

We need that kind of cut with FDA, Homeland Security, HUD, etc. in order to get back on track of producity as opposed to bureacracy!
Posted by Timothy Kells Nixon - 6 months, 4 days, 21 hours, 18 minutes ago

Were ATF/DOJ to “Google” the company name, “Mt. Shasta Brewing Co.”, the 1st return to appear – at the top of the freeking page – reads as follows: “Mt Shasta Brewing Company Microbrew Beer Weed California—
Microbrewer located in Weed, California. Descriptions of products, history, virtual brewery tour, and merchandise.
Map of 360 College Ave, Weed, CA 96094
www.mtshastabrewingcompany.com/ - 2k - Cached - Similar pages”
By clicking on the “Map” link, the ATF/DOJ would confirm that the City of Weed is located in the County of Siskiyou, State of California.
If a brewer is located in Weed, California, it might be difficult to convince a jury that the use of the City Name on the bottle cap suggests that the product contains an illicit substance.
Who knows? Were AFT/DOJ to look at the bottle from which they obtained the cap(s) [assuming they didn’t just rely on the pictures], the address of the brewer might have been ascertained.
This is just more absurd witch hunt from the folks who prosecuted Tommy Chong, but remain unable to find or kill Osama bin Laden (“Wanted Dead or Alive”).
Although A.G. John Ashcroft has retired, the fine folks that appointed him to office (and his worthy successor) remain, albeit lame ducks.
Regards, Tim Nixon,J.D., Los Angeles, CA.
Ps: “Good job Brownie.“
Posted by Ellen Barshevsky - 6 months, 4 days, 19 hours, 57 minutes ago

This may not be directly apposite, but my sister once dated Prince Alaweed, who now owns almost 5% of Citicorp. Boy, she could have had it made, had she married that guy, but she now is married to a lawyer in Baltimore with 3 kids. I don’t think she had a chance to marry Alaweed.
Posted by SDR - 6 months, 4 days, 19 hours, 8 minutes ago

Ellen - have you had any beer lately?

I have been to Weed, CA. It’s a quaint little town about an hour north of Lake Shasta. They have a nice relaxed atmosphere, a pancake house, a theater and a municipal airport. That’s about it. Weed is not covered in “weed” nor does it promote “weed”.....I give the beer company credit for creativity. In commercial America, isn’t the catchy slogan or jingle what makes your product or breaks it?
Posted by JJD - 6 months, 4 days, 12 hours, 46 minutes ago

I agree with the federal goverment “cracking” down of slogans and consummer products that promote crime in America. I think the Feds should also ban clothing made from Hemp, another description of the same plant cannabis sativa With enough of that Weed Beer in ones system then next thing you know those local folks will be smoking thier clothing and drinking “Coke”. You go get ‘em Fed. Divert your precious little resources shutting down legitimate enterprise that pay taxes and leave those white collar criminals that don’t alone.

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