July 15th, 2008 Joe Sixpack

It’s like Christmas morning here at Sixpack Central. My publisher, Rizzoli/Universe, just delivered an advance copy of my next book, above. Of course I’m biased, but it looks absolutely fantastic. I’m postively psyched and it’s still, what, 163 days till Xmas!
The official release date of “Christmas Beer” is Sept. 23rd. You’ll be hearing much more about it in coming weeks.
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May 23rd, 2008 Joe Sixpack

One of the chapters in my upcoming book on Christmas beer is about the controversy over the use of Santa on beer labels. The Shelton Brothers importers have had their share of run-ins with state authorities over the issue. Now, they’re up against the feds.
Here’s the label for Tsjseeses Belgian X-Mas Ale that was recently rejected by the TTB, and its terse reasoning: “The image of the character appears as if he is under the influence of the alcohol or drugs. This touts the effect of the product on the consumer and the alcohol content of the product. Change the image.”
Note: This is the second rejection for this label. In the original version, Santa was surrounded by smoke which, partner Dan Shelton said, “I guess the government took to be marijuana.”
He added: “The smoke is gone now, but I guess they don’t like the googly eyes.”
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