Wine, Spirits & Craft Beer Memo: Northern California Craft Brewer Wins Right to Tout 'Legal Weed' On Beer Bottles

Guest Memo From the Associated Press

By Juliet Williams
Thursday, August 7, 2008

Sacramento, CA -- A Northern California USA brewer who tangled with federal regulators over the caps on his beer bottles said Tuesday that officials have given him permission to keep the message "Try Legal Weed."

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau had ordered Vaune Dillmann to stop using the caps, which are a play on the name of the Siskiyou County town where he brews his beer: Weed. The bureau said the message amounts to a reference to illegal drugs.

Dillmann appealed and was preparing for a legal fight when he received a registered letter this week saying he can continue using the bottle caps. He shared a copy of the letter Tuesday with the Associated Press.

"Based on the context of the entire label, we agree that the phrase in question refers to the brand name of the product and does not mislead consumers," said the letter, dated Thursday.

A message left after hours for alcohol bureau spokesman Art Resnick in Washington was not immediately returned Tuesday.

The dispute started last winter after Dillmann sent the agency Mt. Shasta Brewing Co.'s proposed label for its latest beer, Lemurian Lager.

He included the same bottle cap he'd been using on his other five brews. This time, the branch of the U.S. Treasury rejected it because of federal laws that strictly prohibit drug references on alcoholic beverages.

Since the dispute was publicized in April, Dillmann said he has received letters, phone calls and messages from more than 1,200 people around the world - including old friends and his high school football coach in his hometown of Milwaukee.

"We have not had one even remotely negative comment," Dillmann said.

Dillmann started his brewery in 2004 and named the company's first official brew for the town's founder, Abner Weed, a timber baron who eventually was elected to the state Senate. He was only the latest resident to exploit the name of the town of 3,000.

All the attention has led to booming sales, but it's also been stressful, Dillmann said.

He plans to resume using the now-infamous bottle caps, which had been replaced with blanks while the dispute was pending.

Dillmann also drafted a letter thanking supporters. His message: "Weed fought the law and Weed won!"

Wine, Spirits and Craft Beer Memo: Meet Mac McDonald; One of Only Twenty Estimated African American Vintners in America

Northern California's Mac McDonald, one of only 20 estimated African American vintners in the U.S., in his Sonoma County vineyard, where he spends most of his daylight hours. (Photo: Craig Lee. Curtesy: San Francisco Chronicle.)

California's wine industry is the most diverse in the world.

The state's winemakers and vintners range from multi-billion dollar mega-wineries like Gallo and The Wine Group, to medium-sized wine companies, boutique wineries and one-person operations run by doctors, lawyers and other part-timers.

In terms of winemakers and vintners, California's wine industry, like wine industries throughout the world, is pretty much a bastion of white males as well.

Over the last 20 years, numerous woman have moved into the ranks of winemaker and winery owners, but that hasn't been the case with ethnic minorities like African Americans, Asians or Hispanics.

Mac McDonald, owner, winemaker, marketer and even sometime deliveryman for his wines, is an exception to that rule.

McDonald, who happens to be African American, owns Vision Cellars winery (and wine brand) in Northern California's Sonoma wine country. There, near the town of Windsor, McDonald plants his own vines, nurtures his grapes, and produces his Vision Cellars brand wine.

By his own estimation, McDonald says he's one of only about 20 African American vintners in the United States.

He's also a spokesman and cheerleader to people of all ethnic backgrounds and ages about the joys of being in the wine business--whether its tending grapevines, making wine, writing about the industry or working in a store that sells wine, he says. It's all about passion.

We just finished reading a profile of Mac McDonald in the Friday Wine section of the San Francisco Chronicle. The profile is written by Amanda Gold, a staff writer for the newspaper.

The profile, and the subject, are both interesting. Since we enjoyed reading the piece, and feel its not only informative about Mac McDonald specifically, but also the wine industry in general, we wanted to pass the piece on to Natural~Specialty Foods' readers.

You can read the profile, "A Vintner's Vision," of California vintner Mac McDonald here.