Meet the Beer Bottle Dictator

Will Chiong
2 Beer Queers
Published in
3 min readJun 22, 2015

Found an interesting article about a man with crazy power over the beer industry- he can reject the bottling and distribution of beers based on objections to their labels.

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Battle has rejected a beer label for the King of Hearts, which had a playing card image on it, because the heart implied that the beer would have a health benefit.

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He rejected a beer label featuring a painting called The Conversion of Paula By Saint Jerome because its name, St. Paula’s Liquid Wisdom, contained a medical claim — that the beer would grant wisdom.

This beer is now distributed as the tongue-in-cheek named Over Regulated Ale.

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He rejected a beer called Pickled Santa because Santa’s eyes were too “googly” on the label, and labels cannot advertise the physical effects of alcohol. (A less googly-eyed Santa was later approved.)

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He rejected a beer called Bad Elf because it featured an “Elf Warning,” suggesting that elves not operate toy-making machinery while drinking the ale. The label was not approved on the grounds that the warning was confusing to consumers.

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He rejected a Danish beer label that featured a hamburger, which was turned down because the image implied there was a meat additive in the beer.

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He rejected a beer that was marketed as an “India Dark Ale,” a takeoff on the IPA, because it implied the beer was made in India (even though the label had a line with the words “Product of Denmark”).

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He rejected an “Adnams Broadside” beer, which touted itself as a “heart-warming ale,” because this supposedly involved a medical claim.

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Will Chiong
2 Beer Queers

I love coffee, beer, Scala, long walks on the beach, and oxford commas.