Contract Brewing: TTB/COLA Label Requirements

[beereaucrat]

Does anyone know what is required by the TTB/COLA in terms of information on where the beer was brewed in a contract scenario? We plan on canning and have everything ready to submit label wise sans this information once we select a contract partner to brew/package the beer. The TTB site isn’t very helpful with this particular circumstance. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Brew Law]

Does anyone know what is required by the TTB/COLA in terms of information on where the beer was brewed in a contract scenario? We plan on canning and have everything ready to submit label wise sans this information once we select a contract partner to brew/package the beer. The TTB site isn’t very helpful with this particular circumstance. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hello, I am a beer lawyer located in Littleton, CO. If you are going to contract brew, you have the option of having the brewer add your name as a DBA to their brewer's notice in order to allow them to say, e.g., "Brewed/bottled by beereaucrat." The label will have to also include the city/state where the beer was brewed. If you don't go the route of setting up a DBA, you will have to say "Brewed/bottled by Brewer X (the name of the contract brewery). You could potentially say something like, "Brewed/bottled by Brewer X for beereaucrat" also.

Side note - you should make sure your production agreement with the contract brewery clearly spells out that you are the owner of the trademarks used on the label, and that you are issuing them a license to use the trademarks to produce and package your beer.

Hope that is helpful.

Regards,

Dan Christopherson, Beer Lawyer
Christopherson Brew Law
6638 W. Ottawa Ave, Suite 220-3, Littleton, CO 80128
720-515-8773 (phone) | dan@brew.law | www.brew.law

[robertcl]

Does anyone know what is required by the TTB/COLA in terms of information on where the beer was brewed in a contract scenario? We plan on canning and have everything ready to submit label wise sans this information once we select a contract partner to brew/package the beer. The TTB site isn’t very helpful with this particular circumstance. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

The basics are in the regulation at 27 CFR sections 7.25, and 7.22. You need to show (on the front label for domestics) the name of the packer, and the city and state where packed. To play up the brand owner identity and play down the packer identity, consider using a trade name (dba/fictitious name).

And here is an example, for Costco/Kirkland beer -- made (probably in a contract scenario) by other than Costco.

Robert C. Lehrman
Beer Lawyer
Lehrman Beverage Law
www.bevlaw.com

[AlexG]

This may be a slight hijacking of your thread but I'm going through the same contract brewing labeling process and have a related question regarding the "Beer Company" vs. "Brewing Company" name issue. (new to the form as well, so if I should just start a new thread in the future please let me know.)

It's my understanding that if we are having our beer contract brewed, we can only label our beer as "x Beer Company" and not "x Brewing Company."

My question is this: does this Beer Company requirement by the TTB only pertain to COLA labeling? Our plan is to contract brew at first, and open a brewery down the line. Could we have our company name be "x Brewing Company" everywhere but our labels. (where we would probably only label our beer as "x" and the brewing/beer company part. That is have our LLC names "x Brewing Company," our website, social media, merchandise etc. And then once we open our brewery start adding to our labels the "Brewing Company" part?

We are obviously going to be forthright about contract brewing to start, but would be nice to have one brand name from the very beginning.

[offthecuffbrew]

This may be a slight hijacking of your thread but I'm going through the same contract brewing labeling process and have a related question regarding the "Beer Company" vs. "Brewing Company" name issue. (new to the form as well, so if I should just start a new thread in the future please let me know.)

It's my understanding that if we are having our beer contract brewed, we can only label our beer as "x Beer Company" and not "x Brewing Company."

Just wondering if anyone has an answer to this. We are about ready to start contract brewing and are down to the final drafts for the can labels. Our legal entity name is "x brewing company llc" - will this need to be changed to "x beer company" on the labels? If so should we be setting up "x beer company" as an alias for our LLC?

Thanks