Brickbat: This Ban's for You

The Scottish government says it may ban alcoholic beverage companies from placing their logos on merchandise and glassware. The proposal would ban brewery or alcoholic brand logos on T-shirts, pint glasses, and pub umbrellas, among other objects. Officials say it is aimed at reducing alcohol abuse.

Comments

[Chumby]

Is this sarc’s excuse? He’s a drunk because someone was wearing a Colt 45 Kangol style hat?

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Have they tried switching to ether?

[Fist of Etiquette]

"You can take our lives, but you can also take... OUR MERCH!"

[The Margrave of Azilia]

Alcohol abuse? In Scotland? Well, now I’ve seen everything.

I wonder if the statistics will show a correlation between these new regulations and greater sobriety? (Spoiler: I'm skeptical)

[jimc5499]

It depends on who's statistics are used.

[Jerry B.]

Next up, all glasses in bars, pubs, and restaurants must have a warning label on them.

[NoVaNick]

Or be painted black with a photo of a someone dying from liver disease. It’s worked great for cigarettes…

[Mickey Rat]

Ah, leftist health care driven moral puritanism. The people insist in not doing as they are told so we will remove all visible signs of temptation.

[NoVaNick]

It’s funny how so many of the wine moms scoff at smokers and obese people, yet would bristle at the thought of having to give up their shiraz

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""The proposal would ban brewery or alcoholic brand logos on T-shirts, pint glasses, and pub umbrellas, among other objects. Officials say it is aimed at reducing alcohol abuse.""

Never had alcohol problems in Scotland before merch was invented.

[Roberta]

So this is just saying, "People get in trouble with liquor because liquor looks cool. So we'll keep them from making liquor look cool." Anything to avoid the idea that some people just plain behave irresponsibly of their own accord, and that it has nothing to do with how liquor looks to people when they don't.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

Hey if it saves one drunk, who are you to question?

[you can of course replace drunk with any cause you desire, by the way]

[B G]

All this time I thought my unmarked pint glasses were holding as much booze as the ones with logos on them.

[markm23]

There you go again, trying to inject facts, logic, or science into Prohibition discussions.

[Public Entelectual]

Neither malt nor Milton can
Justify Starmer's branding ban

[AT]

So, once upon a time in a lifetime long long ago, I was among that oh-so-revered class of people who had the distinguished honor of calling themselves “bartender.” It’s one of the most noble professions, assuming you live up to the title, and it affects more people in this world than you might realize.

This proposed ban is dumb for a couple reasons. There are certain expectations that come with a drink. Certain cocktails are served in tumblers, others are in highballs, and others still in cocktail glasses. White wine has a different glass than red wine. Champagne uses a flute. Even the method of creation is very specific – for example, people who drink a margarita on the rocks understand the drink, while those who drink it blended are going straight to Hell when they die. Colada’s are often served in a festive way. The daquiri conjures a very specific image. Rimmed with sugar, rimmed with salt, heck rimmed with chili sometimes. Garnish is often the distinguishing characteristic from one drink to another.

My point being that it matters. Bartending is a craft and an art. Any rookie can sling a jigger of well vodka and fill the rest with orange juice into a clean-enough coffee mug and call it good. But that doesn’t make it a cocktail.

Beer is no different. Guinness designed their instantly-recognizable pint glass with getting that perfect head – which, if poured correctly, you can float a quarter on – every time. There’s also a method to preparing the glass correctly before you even pour the beer (in fact, Guinness actually offers training on how to do this right). Stella Artois has done a similar thing with their very recognizable glass. Pilsner glasses are meant for a pilsner, whereas a stein has another purpose all together. Corona is very clearly meant to be tugged straight from the bottle, with a lime in the neck (which, call me a heretic, but I don’t do – just a little course salt sprinkled in, and I think it’s a better cerveza).

Sure, you could argue that it’s all just a drink and who cares about the vessel – but would you say the same thing to a chef when it comes to plating? Should a three-star michelin chef just slop his fare onto a prison tray?

It’d make a difference in how you regard it, and how you even enjoy it. You might just call it branding, but it’s not. And once upon a time, I knew a mick who would straight up fire you on the spot if you served a Smithwick’s in a Guinness glass, or vice versa.

It matters.