Washington Post - Beer Laid Bare: Labels That Tell All

Hey everyone, the old man cut this out of the Washington Post for me earlier this week. It was in their every other week beer column from Wednesday, August 29.

The author, Greg Kitsock, was saying that a proposal has been brought up by the Tax and Trade Bureau (div. of the Treasury) to require a serving facts label on all alcoholic beverage containers. You know the kind: number of servings, calories, fat content, etc.

He spoke to Paul Gatza, the director of the Brewers Association, about this and Gatza mentioned that many of our micro brewery and craft brewery friends might be caught in a pinch, as they will have to make room for these new labels on the back of the bottles, which could cost the industry "tens of millions of dollars". Gatza says that the trouble is not with showing the information, but how it actually shows on the packaging.

"The Tax and Trade Bureau has given the public until Oct. 29 to submit comments." Depending on what comes back to the government, they might amend the proposal. If it passes successfully, brewers will have a 3 year window to get their stuff on the back of the bottle.

Here is a link to the original article, registration required.