Government-keep your hands off our drinks!

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The old Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms – now with the friendlier name of Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) – is getting involved in the particular formulas of alcoholic malt beverages, such as Smirnoff Ice, which have been growing in popularity over the past several years.

To begin with, it is not clear what business the federal government has deciding what formula a beverage company should use in its products. The companies that have made these beverages have followed one set of rules for thirty years but now, TTB wants to change these rules in the middle of the game.

Keep in mind, these proposed changes have nothing to do with alcohol content. This is all about flavoring. Why is the government wasting its time and our tax dollars meddling in this?

So what happens if the bureaucrats get their way with our favorite drinks? Companies will have to spend millions of dollars changing the way they make these beverages to comply with the new rules. And, these extra costs will get passed to us!

This is why we need your help!

Go to

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and tell the government to keep their hands off our favorite drinks.

Thank you.

Reply to
TOM KAN PA
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That's actually a load of horseshit. It's not "all about flavoring." It's about how this stuff is made and taxed. They told us, and they told the gummint, that this stuff was all malt-based, with just teensy bits of distilled spirits in it, not like the spirits-based stuff in Europe. Turns out they lied. A LOT of the alcohol comes from distilled spirits, because it's cheap that way...and it's a LOT cheaper if it gets taxed as beer, which has a lower rate. This is all about keeping a huge profit margin for the companies that make this shit. "The companies that have made these beverages have followed one set of rules for thirty years..." Forsooth: the regs are ALWAYS changing, and they know it. This is CRAP, and the "savemyice" website ought to tell you that. Smirnoff Ice...how do you "flavor" something to "taste" like vodka? Stuff a bunch of rubbing alcohol in it?

As for the "extra costs" being passed to us, well, guess what? They could take the hit of the extra costs and never notice it, because these things are ridiculously overpriced. The margin is immense on them, just like it is on NA beers. Oh, I weep for Smirnoff Ice, all right.

Reply to
Lew Bryson

Well, if I was a fence-sitter before, now I *know* I'm going to support the proposed regulations. Thanks, TKP.

Oh, and f*ck Smirnoff Ice and the rest of that SHITE.

Reply to
Oh, Guess

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