Since today is Flag Day, I thought I’d look at some beer art that also uses the American flag. The reason it’s Flag Day is because in 1777, “John Adams introduced the following resolution before the Continental Congress, meeting at Philadelphia, PA: ‘Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation.'” Since that time, breweries (and all other business ventures) have been wrapping themselves in the flag to sell products, invoke patriotism or just celebrate living in America. It will probably not surprise you to know I’m also a flag geek, though I think I may have already revealed that tidbit before now (oh, yes I did).
Here’s a typical example from the 19th century, a New York brewery’s calendar for 1899.
But even in modern times, several microbreweries have used flag imagery on their labels, most notably Stoudt’s American Pale Ale. Stoudt’s flagship (pun intended?) APA uses a bold, stylized painting of an American Flag that looks like a cross between a Jackson Pollock and Jasper Johns.
I don’t know who painted it and there’s no information on the label itself. I could call Carol Stoudt and ask, but it’s Sunday and it can no doubt wait until tomorrow. They even extended the artwork to the six-pack carriers.
But I’ve always liked its jagged edges, the indistinct stars created from the white paint alone, and how the colors mix between all the ribbons of red and white while remaining clearly defined nonetheless.
Until I know about the painter, there isn’t much else to look at, unless you’re curious about Flag Day itself, in which case Wikipedia has a summary; or, if you want to know more about the U.S. flag.
The examples of US flag-adored beer labels are going to be few, given the TTB’s regulation:
ยง 7.29 Prohibited practices.
“(d) Flags, seals, coats of arms, crests, and other insignia. Labels shall not contain, in the brand name or otherwise, any statement, design, device, or pictorial representation which the appropriate TTB officer finds relates to, or is capable of being construed as relating to, the armed forces of the United States, or the American flag, or any emblem, seal, insignia, or decoration associated with such flag or armed forces; nor shall any label contain any statement, design, device, or pictorial representation of or concerning any flag, seal, coat of arms, crest or other insignia, likely to mislead the consumer to believe that the product has been endorsed, made, or used by, or produced for, or under the supervision of, or in accordance with the specifications of the government, organization, family, or individual with whom such flag, seal, coat of arms, crest, or insignia is associated.”
As with many of the labeling rules, some “exceptions” often slip through. When a couple of New England breweries ran up against this regulation recently, the Stoudt’s APA label is the first I thought of. Apparently individual “appropriate TTB officers” often interpret the regulations differently.
At first glance, this particular regulation seems rather draconian (you know, “First Amendment” and all that)- OTOH, if “patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”, just think of how those multinational scoundrels that own the macro brewers would run wild with flag waving.
And, is was often the case, these “prohibitions” that were written into the post-Repeal alcohol laws were often supported by the brewers themselves. In this case, here’s an example from the Brewing Industry Foundation, written during WWII (and, of course, just a decade or so after Repeal), titled “Don’t Leave Yourself Open to Charges of Flag-waving”.
http://jesskidden.googlepages.com/abc%27sofbeeradvertising