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N.H. Governor Wants to Block a Mich. Beer to Combat Underage Drinking

June 12, 2015, 4:43 PM by  Alan Stamm

This story from Concord, N.H., upholds the adage about truth being stranger than fiction.

Breakfast Stout, a strong (8.3%) seasonal beer from Founders Brewing of Grand Rapids, can't be sold in New Hampshire because a forbidden illustration is on the four-pack cartons and bottles. They show someone under the legal drinking age -- way under. 

Kelly Faircloth of Jezebel tells the offbeat saga with an Associated Press assist:

The New Hampshire state legislature is currently going head-to-head with their governor, battling over whether pictures of babies should be allowed on beer bottles. . . .

It’s been illegal to include minors in alcohol ads in New Hampshire. But Rep. Keith Murphy owns a bar, and he really wants to sell Founders Breakfast Stout, which features a cartoon baby (toddler? very small child?) eating oatmeal.

“No reasonable person would believe that this label is intended to appeal to minors in any way,” he told the AP. So he introduced a bill okaying kiddos on labels, as long as you weren’t actually encouraging them to take a tipple. . . .

It passed — only to be vetoed by the governor, Maggie Hassan. . . . Two-thirds of the House reps have now voted to override her veto.

A Senate override vote is the next step.

Rik Stevens of AP quotes the 57-year-old governor's veto explanation:

Hassan said allowing the images could undermine the state’s efforts to fight underage drinking.

“Substance misuse, including alcohol misuse, continues to be one of the major public health and safety challenges facing us as a state,” Hassan said in her veto message. “Moreover, statistics suggest that New Hampshire has among the highest rates of underage drinking in the country.”

Faircloth of Jezebel helpfully offers this takeaway: "Truly, the states are America’s laboratories of democracy."


Read more:  Jezebel


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