Drinking & the Law
Periodically, we write about the legal issues surrounding the production, distribution, and consumption of alcohol — a topic which is often fraught with controversy. Those posts are collected under our Drinking & the Law category.
Top Drinking & the Law Posts:
What Is Bottled-in-Bond Whiskey?
The Debate Over Whiskey Age Statements: A Drinkhacker Conversation
Maker’s Mark Granted Trademark Protection for Red, Dripping Wax
Along with Compass Box, Bruichladdich has been at the forefront of the Scotch transparency movement, a rejection of the intense secrecy rules that the Scottish government has long demanded around the production of whisky. For those not in the know, it’s actually illegal to share too much information about the components of a Scotch whisky.…
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The new Macallan Distillery will look quite different… In 2013 a new brand was launched by William Grant (owners of Glenfiddich and Balvenie distilleries) called Kininvie. You may see its little 35cl bottles in duty free shops. The 17 year old is the cheapest version of this whisky and it will cost you around £80…
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Occasionally, a new whiskey drinker will notice something unusual with select bottles of bourbon or American rye: There are occasional bottles that seem to share a long thin sticker over the cap of a bottle, that states that the whiskey is “bottled-in-bond.” What does the phrase mean, and what does it mean in practice for…
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The age statement — the practice of putting the amount of time a spirit spends in the barrel — continues to be one of the most talked-about issues in the booze business. Long a staple of the whiskey world, where age statements have been a badge of honor and a matter of distillers’ pride for decades,…
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But Mormons don’t drink, so… Five Wives Vodka has been sold in Mormon-dominated Utah since December without creating too much of a stir, according to the distillery. But the brand — and its not-so-subtle reference to polygamy — is too much for liquor regulators in neighboring Idaho. “We feel Five Wives Vodka concept is offensive…
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Maker’s Mark’s red wax seals are so iconic that if you visit the distillery, you’ll find a massive line of people paying to dip their own bottle of Maker’s into a vat of bubbling wax — a unique keepsake from Bourbon Country, to be sure. In 1985, Maker’s trademarked the red wax seal, much to…
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How drunk are you? No, really? How do you know? If you’re a regular imbiber, it’s a good idea to test yourself once in awhile to make sure you’re OK to drive. 0.08 percent blood alcohol content (BAC) is the maximum legal level in most states, but knowing if you’re over that threshold can be…
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My post “Is Duty Free Ever a Good Deal?” generated a bit of discussion, and quite by coincidence, I just found that this quarter’s Malt Advocate magazine has a lengthy look at duty free (aka “travel retail”) shopping, too. The story can be found here on page 52 (registration required if you view too many…
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International travelers, you know the drill: You can bring in up to one liter of booze without paying the duty on it. And if they have a special name for it (“the duty!”), that must be a lot of cash, right? Hence the existence of duty free shops in every international airport on earth. But…
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Sorry, les enfants! At long last, it looks like France — where you can drink beer and wine as young as 16 years old — is going to raise its drinking age to 18. The good news: As has always been the case, no one is likely to ask for ID. From the AP story:…
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