|
Welcome to the Shroomery Message Board! Please  login or  register to post messages and view our members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, encrypted messages, file attachments, board customizations, and much more!
|
 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 5,800
|
 Butt out and let us sell Santa beer [ME]
#6329859 - 12/03/06 10:16 AM (1 year, 9 months ago) |
|
|
Brewer: Butt out and let us sell Santa beer
December 1, 2006 - MSNBC
Maine said label would appeal to children, orders bottle pulled from shelves
PORTLAND, Maine - A beer distributor says Maine is being a Scrooge by barring it from selling a beer with a label depicting Santa Claus enjoying a pint of brew.
In a complaint filed in U.S. District, 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 episode is reminiscent of 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.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday, contends the state's action violates the First Amendment by censoring artistic expression.
But the state says it's within its rights. The label with Santa might appeal to children, said Maine State Police Lt. Patrick Fleming. The other two labels are considered inappropriate because they show bare-breasted women.
"We stand by our decision and at some point it'll go through the court system and somebody will make the decision on whether we are right or wrong," he said.
The lawsuit was brought by the Maine Civil Liberties Union, which says the beer labels are entitled to First Amendment protection.
"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 shows a view from behind of Santa Claus with a pint of beer in hand sitting on top of a barrel. The beer's name has a double meaning by referring to Santa's rear end and to the "butt" of beer, a term that designates a 126-gallon barrel.
The label for a French ale, Les Sans Culottes, is illustrated with detail from Eugene Delacroix's 1830 painting "Liberty Leading the People," which hangs in the Louvre and once appeared on the 100-franc bill.
The label for Rose de Gambrinus fruit beer shows a bare-breasted woman in a watercolor painting commissioned by the Belgian brewery that makes the beer.
In a letter to Shelton Brothers, the state denied the applications for the labels because they contained "undignified or improper illustration."
Video of story here: No to Santas Butt
|
 truffleupagus
trouser trout
 
Registered: 02/19/06
Posts: 2,061
Loc: 2 inches to the left
Last seen: 10 hours, 46 minutes
|
Re: Butt out and let us sell Santa beer [ME] [Re: veggie]
#6329951 - 12/03/06 10:56 AM (1 year, 9 months ago) |
|
|
I wouldn't mind having a "butt" of beer I guess. That could last me a while.
I can kinda see where both sides are coming from on this issue though.
|
demius
heeeeeeehaaaaaw!
Registered: 08/18/05
Posts: 21,683
Loc: Earth
|
Re: Butt out and let us sell Santa beer [ME] [Re: truffleupagus]
#6330067 - 12/03/06 12:06 PM (1 year, 9 months ago) |
|
|
Santa's not real anyways. The sooner people stop lying to [their] children, the better off we'll all be.
| |
|
|
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit 
Reply 
Quote 
