Thursday, March 28, 2024

MLCC taking an obscene stance on beer’s name

Unfortunately for Michigan’s microbrew connoisseurs, the Michigan Liquor Control Commission, or MLCC, just isn’t buying the cleverness of Flying Dog Brewery’s Raging Bitch beer.

The MLCC recently has decided to ban the brew from Michigan shelves. On Monday, Flying Dog President and CEO Jim Caruso filed a civil rights lawsuit against the MLCC in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

Within the context of a beverage for adults over the age of 21, the name “Raging Bitch” is not particularly offensive. It’s a play on words using the company’s dog-themed name and a word for a female dog. Although the word can have clear sexist connotations, it is not used in that fashion on the label.

MLCC disapproves of “any beer label deemed to promote violence, racism, sexism, intemperance or intoxication or to be detrimental to the health, safety or welfare of the general public.”

It’s not as if the company is trying to market a children’s cereal with the same name. Alcohol is an adult beverage consumed by adults, and therefore, its producers should be able to use adult language within reason. Context makes all the difference. If stores or individuals do not enjoy the label, they can make that decision for themselves.

“Bitch” is used in everyday language, on television and in PG-13 movies. The Motion Picture Association of America has decided 13-year-olds are able to listen to such language by their own choosing. It’s a moot point to stop 21-year-olds from reading the word.

This harsh restriction also is somewhat hypocritical because Founders Brewing Co.’s Dirty Bastard beer is allowed on shelves by the MLCC.

The organization should not break the precedent that adults can handle a few indelicate, generally harmless words.

Michigan has a pretty good microbrew culture and it’s unfortunate the MLCC wants to limit such breweries in any way. The MLCC has overstepped its bounds on this decision for the second time this year, the first being its questionable caffeine-infused alcohol drink ban and continued criticism of the now caffeine-free drinks.

MLCC’s most recent decision directly hinders Flying Dog Brewery and consumers who enjoy its product.

Currently, the beer is sold in about 35 states as well as 20 European countries. Michigan is the only state to bar the product from being sold. So, either Michiganders are very sensitive folk or the label is not that offensive.

Colorado also restricted a Flying Dog label containing an obscenity, but the ban was contested successfully in court by the American Civil Liberties Union. Hopefully, the company’s latest case is just as successful.

The right to free speech is an important one. Although a beer label is not the most groundbreaking example of First Amendment rights, it should be held to the same standards.

To view the beer’s label and description, visit www.flyingdogales.com.

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