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So You Want to Be a Micro-Distiller?
then you need to learn about ColA’s
Robin Bowman
As a micro-distiller, you want to distinguish your distilled spirit from competitors in the marketplace. So you’ve come up with a great idea for creating a distilled spirits label that is unique and sure to attract consumer attention. Before you invest a lot of money in expensive plates and reams of labels, you need to learn about the federal label approval process administered by the Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau (“TTB”) and how it might impact that unique label design you want to use.
under the Federal Alcohol Administration Act, TTB requires alcohol beverage producers, including distillers, and importers to obtain pre-approval of label designs before the labels are used on alcohol beverages sold in interstate commerce (e.g., across state or national borders). Federal law requires label pre-approval for several reasons, including to ensure that labels are not misleading to consumers with regard to an alcohol beverage’s class and type, quantity and method of manufacture and that they include the required mandatory information. Certain aspects of mandatory label information vary depending on the class and type of the distilled spirit, but the following elements are required for all domestically produced distilled spirits: brand name, alcohol content, net contents, class and type designation, name and address of the distiller/bottler/packer, and the government warning statement. Mandatory label information also is subject to rules governing font size, legibility and placement.