It’s all a figure of speech.
The locals have always had a little fun with the name. Especially since the word now has a different connotation. Tourists pull over to have their picture taken in front of the freeway sign “ Weed next three exits” It’s all harmless fun. Right?
The name weed however has nothing to do with the popular plant. The town Weed gets it’s name from founder, Abner Weed. Abner Weed purchased 280 acres of the land and a lumber mill. The town was established in 1901.
In 1992, a quiet retired policeman with German and Polish background decided that he wanted to spend the rest of his golden years as a brew master in the state he served in for 20 years. Vaune Dillman negotiated to purchase the historic Medo-Bel Creamery in Weed California and have it retrofitted to accommodate a brewery. At last Vaune Dillman was able to follow his lifelong dream. He named the brewery Mt. Shasta Brewing Company.
To honor the founder of Weed, Vaune approach the family of Abner Weed and was given permission to use the name Weed. The beer that is named after the founder is session amber ale. The label on the bottle bears the name and the resemblance of the founder.
Vaune’s slogan for the brewery is,” A friend in Weed is a friend indeed.” So how far can one go with the ATF when it comes to a word that has more than one inference?
Before talking with him I carefully scoured the brewing company’s website. I did get the impression that the battle with ATF had been won.
I spoke with Vaune late in August and was expecting to hear a soft accent from his upbringing. Instead what I heard was a very pleasant mild toned man with a quick and easy laugh. Vaune has been spending a lot of his time talking to individuals who want to hear the story behind “the bottle cap heard ‘round the world,” (he made that up) I was one of the hundreds.
Vaune has been on TV talk shows, radio programs, interviewed for print. While he has told his story many a time he was happy to tell it again.
An argument that he takes is to point out the phrase, “This Bud’s for you”, is not inferring that AB is suggesting that the consumer smoke weed.
Labeling laws may seem contradictory with such an argument. Freedom of speech is another area that was brought up in the discussion. Not all labels are intended to be taken literally pointed out Vaune.” If you were to purchase a bottle of Rogue’s Dead Guy ale would you expect a cadaver to come out when you poured the beer?” ”If you purchased Moose Drool ale would you expect to really be drinking moose drool?”
Vaune also talked about the Compliance Matters. Compliance Matters 94-2 states, “We do not believe that responsible industry members should want to portray their product in any sociably unacceptable manner”. Given the worldwide interest and support that Vaune has experienced, I made the comment to him that the bottle cap was probably the most socially acceptable bottle cap in the world!
A person who visited Mt. Shasta Brewing Co, asked Vaune for some of the bottle caps. Vaune learned that the person turned around to sell the bottle caps and that they were going for $4.00 a cap. The cap itself is not the culprit. It is the cap on the bottle that is the issue.
While the arguments sounded good, it took three California attorneys to address the issue. These attorneys worked pro-bono. It has really been an interesting haul to fight this battle. I didn’t think it would be this much work. Thankfully he has the tireless support of the lawyers to make sure that this issue is dealt with properly. These attorneys may be paving the path to other brewers who would like creative license for their product.
Vaune tells me he is not out of the weeds yet. He has won his argument, but he still has not been given the O.K to use the caps. He said that he is being requested to resubmit paperwork in order to get the approval. So once the paperwork is resubmitted, time is required to go through the entire process again. Then soon we will all be able to have our own bottle of this history making bottle cap with the beer of course.
The name weed however has nothing to do with the popular plant. The town Weed gets it’s name from founder, Abner Weed. Abner Weed purchased 280 acres of the land and a lumber mill. The town was established in 1901.
In 1992, a quiet retired policeman with German and Polish background decided that he wanted to spend the rest of his golden years as a brew master in the state he served in for 20 years. Vaune Dillman negotiated to purchase the historic Medo-Bel Creamery in Weed California and have it retrofitted to accommodate a brewery. At last Vaune Dillman was able to follow his lifelong dream. He named the brewery Mt. Shasta Brewing Company.
To honor the founder of Weed, Vaune approach the family of Abner Weed and was given permission to use the name Weed. The beer that is named after the founder is session amber ale. The label on the bottle bears the name and the resemblance of the founder.
Vaune’s slogan for the brewery is,” A friend in Weed is a friend indeed.” So how far can one go with the ATF when it comes to a word that has more than one inference?
Before talking with him I carefully scoured the brewing company’s website. I did get the impression that the battle with ATF had been won.
I spoke with Vaune late in August and was expecting to hear a soft accent from his upbringing. Instead what I heard was a very pleasant mild toned man with a quick and easy laugh. Vaune has been spending a lot of his time talking to individuals who want to hear the story behind “the bottle cap heard ‘round the world,” (he made that up) I was one of the hundreds.
Vaune has been on TV talk shows, radio programs, interviewed for print. While he has told his story many a time he was happy to tell it again.
An argument that he takes is to point out the phrase, “This Bud’s for you”, is not inferring that AB is suggesting that the consumer smoke weed.
Labeling laws may seem contradictory with such an argument. Freedom of speech is another area that was brought up in the discussion. Not all labels are intended to be taken literally pointed out Vaune.” If you were to purchase a bottle of Rogue’s Dead Guy ale would you expect a cadaver to come out when you poured the beer?” ”If you purchased Moose Drool ale would you expect to really be drinking moose drool?”
Vaune also talked about the Compliance Matters. Compliance Matters 94-2 states, “We do not believe that responsible industry members should want to portray their product in any sociably unacceptable manner”. Given the worldwide interest and support that Vaune has experienced, I made the comment to him that the bottle cap was probably the most socially acceptable bottle cap in the world!
A person who visited Mt. Shasta Brewing Co, asked Vaune for some of the bottle caps. Vaune learned that the person turned around to sell the bottle caps and that they were going for $4.00 a cap. The cap itself is not the culprit. It is the cap on the bottle that is the issue.
While the arguments sounded good, it took three California attorneys to address the issue. These attorneys worked pro-bono. It has really been an interesting haul to fight this battle. I didn’t think it would be this much work. Thankfully he has the tireless support of the lawyers to make sure that this issue is dealt with properly. These attorneys may be paving the path to other brewers who would like creative license for their product.
Vaune tells me he is not out of the weeds yet. He has won his argument, but he still has not been given the O.K to use the caps. He said that he is being requested to resubmit paperwork in order to get the approval. So once the paperwork is resubmitted, time is required to go through the entire process again. Then soon we will all be able to have our own bottle of this history making bottle cap with the beer of course.
Picture cut and pasted with Vaune's permission.
1 comment:
Thanks for filling in the holes. Go Weed!...uh...beer that is.
Banjo
Realbeer.com
Post a Comment