Outrage: Trouble Brews Over Bottle Caps

Vaune Dillman of the Mt. Shasta Brewing Co. Photo by Gregg Segal

Situated in the shadow of volcanic Mount Shasta, the Mt. Shasta Brewing Co. in Weed, Calif., has set off a bureaucratic eruption. 

In February the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau ordered microbrewery owner Vaune Dillman to cease using his six-year-old company’s bottle cap slogan. The catchphrase: Try Legal Weed. 

“I assure you that the city of Weed is not named after any kind of vegetation—legal or otherwise,” says Dillman, 62, a former Oakland, Calif., policeman. “It’s all tongue in cheek!”

In fact, Weed (population about 3,000) is named after founder Abner Weed. Not that the U.S. government cares. 

“Labels must be truthful and accurate and not misleading,” says bureau spokesman Art Resnick, whose agency collects excise taxes on all alcohol products and oversees their labeling. “Based on those considerations, we have told [the company] that we don’t find that bottle cap to be acceptable.” 

Dillman’s appeal of the ruling was denied; he has requested help from U.S. Rep. Wally Herger, R-Calif., who has asked the agency why it rejected the bottle caps. Meanwhile, Dillman is using blank bottle caps while considering further options. 

Says Los Angeles  attorney Gary Bostwick, who is representing the brewery: “They’re trying to stop him from using a phrase that’s essentially harmless.”