For Immediate Release
	Oct. 8, 2003
	Contact: Carol McKay
	202-835-3323 ext.114
	media@nclnet.org

NCL to TTB: Proposed Rule on 'Flavored Malt Beverages' Needs Fixing

Alcohol Is Alcohol, and Federal Regulations Should Not Favor One Class of Alcoholic Beverage Over Another

WASHINGTON, DC -- The National Consumers League (NCL) has submitted comments critical of some of the proposed regulations on “flavored malt beverages.”  NCL President Linda Golodner says that “alcohol is alcohol, regardless of source” and that federal regulations should not favor one class of alcoholic beverages – beers – over others.

Flavored malt beverages (FMB’s) are a new type of alcoholic beverage made from a malt beer base to which flavors containing distilled alcohol are added.  The end result is a beverage with an alcohol content similar to that of most beers – 4 to 6 % by volume – but with a different flavor.

Last March, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), the agency charged with regulating alcoholic beverages, proposed new restrictions on “flavored malt beverages.”  The proposal would require that no more than 0.5% of the alcohol in an FMB could come from distilled spirits.  It would also require that the front label of an FMB list the beverage’s alcohol content. 

In its comments to the agency, NCL expressed concern that the proposed rule is just another patch in a piecemeal approach to regulation of alcoholic beverages.  Instead of requiring alcohol content on labels of FMBs alone, TTB should require alcohol content labeling for all alcoholic beverages, including beer.  NCL also supports a mandatory “Alcohol Facts” panel, akin to the “Nutrition Facts” panel on food labels.  The “Alcohol Facts” panel should include, among other items, the beverage’s total alcohol content expressed as a percentage of volume and amount per serving, as well as a graphic that will tell consumers immediately how many standard drinks are contained in that beverage.  Total calories per serving should also be expressed.

“The proposed rule is likely to increase consumer confusion about alcohol equivalency,” NCL said.  According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “chemically, alcohol is alcohol; the alcohol in spirits is no different than the alcohol in beer or wine.”  Yet, most consumers do not realize that 12 oz of beer, 5 oz of wine, and 1.5 oz of 80-proof distilled spirits all contain the same amount of alcohol.  By regulating FMB’s differently from beers, TTB is sending a message that beer is somehow safer than distilled spirits. 

In lieu of the 0.5% distilled spirit restriction, NCL supported TTB’s alternative proposal that at least 50% of the alcohol in an FMB come from malt sources.  NCL concluded, “as these products are labeled as ‘flavored malt beverages,’ requiring that the product derive a majority of its alcohol content from malt fermentation will assure that an FMB actually contains malt, in a significant concentration.”

  “It is the alcohol content of a drink that matters, not the type of drink,” concluded NCL’s Golodner.  Alcoholism, drunk driving, and other harmful effects of overconsumption are just as likely to be associated with beer as with “hard” liquor.

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America's pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to identify, protect, represent, and advance the economic and social interests of consumers and workers. NCL is a private, nonprofit membership organization. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

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