When it comes to bastions of decency and decorum, beer isn’t necessarily the first place one would think to look for them. But according to Maryland-based Flying Dog Brewery, their hand was slapped for having a too risque beer label. The company has now filed suit in U.S. District Court against the Michigan Liquor Control Commission for denying a license to sell their number one selling Raging Bitch Belgian-Style India Pale Ale in the state.
The application was first rejected by the commission in September 2009, citing that the label would be “detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of the general public.” One line seemed to specifically irk the board: “Remember, enjoying a Raging Bitch, unleashed, untamed, unbridled — and in heat — is pure GONZO.” Flying Dog, represented by their D.C.-based lawyers Gura & Possessky, PLLC, is now asking the district court to issue an injunction overriding the board’s decision. Throwing the original rejection back into the commission’s face, the brewery claims in its lawsuit, “Flying Dog’s inability to legally sell (the anniversary ale) in Michigan has damaged Flying Dog by costing it significant sales. (It also is) generally damaging Flying Dog’s goodwill in Michigan and thus hurting the sales of Flying Dog’s other beers and products that may be legally sold.”
Or perhaps the controversy stems from the artwork on the bottle by illustrator Ralph Steadman, who had teamed up with Hunter S. Thompson on a little known work called Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Literary connections aside, many view the commission’s ruling to have been arbitrary. According to mlive.com, Flying Dog already sells Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale and In Heat Wheat Hefeweizen Ale in the state, while Founders Brewery sells its Dirty Bastard.
Product packaging has always been a forerunner for design and art readily digestible to the public. Wine bottles, for instance, have come a long way from the stodgy and drab labels of old Europe, and beer bottles have done the same from the ubiquitous Rocky Mountains on every label — but then, maybe Michigan feels differently due to its proximity to the Rockies. Perhaps D.C. can test similar waters with its own D.C. Statehood brew, since renaming a few minor streets seems difficult enough.
