Lobbying for the Breakfast Stout Baby
Contributed by on Jan 20, 2015
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Babies and beer are a clear recipe for disaster. But what about when the baby is on the label of a beloved bottle of stout?
This is the problem Founders Brewing Co.’s Breakfast Stout is facing in New Hampshire. The bottle of the dark, heavy brew that’s made with flaked oats, bitter chocolates and two types of coffee depicts a baby enjoying a large spoonful of porridge on its label (presumably how you will feel while drinking a pint of this stout).
The baby, however, violates a New Hampshire law which states that no image—or even mention—of minors is allowed on alcohol products.
Keith Murphy is both the owner of Murphy’s Tap Room in Manchester, N.H., where Breakfast Stout is served on tap sans baby, as well as a representative in the New Hampshire State Legislature. Representative Murphy told the Associated Press that he supports new legislation that will allow images of minors to appear on alcohol packaging—within certain parameters, of course.
If the law passes, images will have to receive permission from the Liquor Commission in order to be allowed in stores. To pass inspection, it will have to be clear that the aim of the image is not specifically to entice young people into trying alcohol products.
It remains to be seen, however, whether his hope for the Breakfast Stout will come true. In the meantime, craft beer drinkers in New Hampshire can find bottled Breakfast Stout in any of its neighboring New England states.
Read more at The New York Times.