De Verboden Vrucht

[esprit]

A fresh shipment of this unique brew from Hoegaarden has just arrived and you can partake of it at establishments such as the Esplanade Biermarkt, Smokeless Joe, Riverside Cafe, La Palette, Cafe Brussel and Mackie's Taigh Osda.

[A]

I'm curious - how did you get this beer (which is fantastic, by the way) into Ontario with its existing labelling? I'm sure I read somewhere that the LCBO has a bunch of restrictions on labelling, one of which is not having naked women on the bottle

Another I recall is not having Santa Claus, which is why the Rogue Santa's Private Reserve from last year was denied.

[Kid Presentable]

if there's no santa claus then why did we get petrus tripel?

kp

[esprit]

To my knowledge, there is no restriction on naked women. This label has a conveniently placed fig leaf making the artwork no different than what you might see in some churches. It is the Alcohol and Gaming Commission which sets the rules related to labelling and advertising and these are jointly enforced by the AGC and the LCBO but often things slip through the cracks. Two years ago at Christmas the LCBO offered the Petrus with Santa on the label, Old St. Nick egg nog with Santa on the label and a Russian vokda inside a wooden Santa doll. I registered complaints about all 3 and the following year Petrus and the vodka were not purchased and Old St. Nick changed their name and label. As the agent for Rogue, we were told years ago that we could not bring in Santa's Private Reserve...in fact, we were also told we could not bring in Pike's Auld Lang Syne because the old man with a white beard on the label (representing the old year) looked at bit like Santa Claus. In fact, labelling restrictions primarily relate to packaging and characters which might appeal to children as well as restricting the use of famous living people on labels. For example, you could not put Wayne Gretzky's face on a bottle of vodka.