This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Friday, March 3rd, 2017.

I'm Caleb Brown.

How states and the feds regulate alcohol may be outdated, but at least in a few cases it's downright incoherent.

Jim Caruso is CEO of Flying Dog Brewery, he's witnessed both the mundane and extraordinary

in the world of alcohol regulation.

You run Flying Dog Brewery and you produce a beer called Raging Bitch, which has art from the great Ralph Stedman most closely

associated with Louisville's own Hunter S. Thompson.

And what's wrong with that or what did Michigan say was wrong with

that? Michigan banned the sale of that beer in the state. The reason was that it was detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of the general public.

In their mind, just the passive observance of this inanimate label. the wrote some copy for this label. In their minds had the ability to just incite violence

among the people who looked at this label and in their minds that would cause a danger

to society.

I'm thinking of the parallels in the 1980s when Tipper Gore was going before Congress

talking about lyrics on albums of Two Live Crew among others and I can remember

Frank Zappa appearing on Crossfire repeatedly saying it's just words and that seems to be you know in the case here it's it's just words

So what what powers is this agents was this agency given to say no you can't you can't do this well the powers are significant they have

police power so selling a beer in the state without their approval would result

in the state police being called out to confiscate the beer, and the CEO of the

brewery could be charged with a felony.

So those are rather severe consequences of not getting their approval.

So what were the arguments made?

I mean you said health, welfare and safety of the general public, but let's drill down a little bit.

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