NC Newspaper Takes On Beer Name Censorship As Free Speech Issue

 “As long as we have an ABC system, let the “C” stand for control — not censorship.”  The Wilson Times August 16, 2019

That’s what one North Carolina publication thinks. And they’re not backing down either…

Censorship in the public square has always been tricky and a North Carolina newspaper, The Wilson Times has posted an editorial which takes on the North Carolina ABC Commission and its opposition to as the paper puts it, “irreverent craft beer names.”

Citing a WECT Channel 6 story which reported that the state’s ABC board had blacklisted about 230 beer and wine labels since 2002, meaning those products can’t be legally sold in the Tar Heel State, the Wilson, NC editorial jumped ugly, taking issue with the process.

“State law bans the sale of alcoholic beverages whose labels are ‘undignified, immodest or in bad taste.’ These terms are highly subjective and lack precise legal definitions. They’re also out of step with federal case law on alcohol marketing.”

One of the North Carolina ABC Commission’s recent rejections, Utah-based Wasatch Brewery’s Polygamy Porter, made nationwide headlines. And the Wilson Times was unforgiving in its assessment…

“In a denial letter, some humorless pencil-pusher at the ABC commission reportedly wrote that the beer couldn’t be sold under that name because polygamy is illegal. That makes about as much sense as banning McDonald’s because its Hamburglar mascot promotes theft.”

The editorial also called attention to another rejected beer label, Kissing Cousins, which in light the fact that North Carolina allows first cousins to marry, it found particularly absurd…

“As News & Observer reporter Andy Specht pointed out on Twitter…You can attend a cousins’ wedding in our state, but you can’t toast the newlyweds with an aptly named brew.”

Accusing the North Carolina ABC system of being “rife with political patronage,” the Wilson Times continued to position beer name denials as a free speech issue…

“The North Carolina’s nebulous labeling restrictions…violate breweries’ First Amendment right to free speech.  And they interfere with consumer choice, which serves as a real-time referendum on commercial products.”

“As long as we have an ABC system, let the “C” stand for control — not censorship.”