For many years, beer and wine wholesalers have ardently defended states’ right to regulate alcoholic beverages. Their wholesalers’ associations—the National Beer Wholesalers Association and the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America—have written countless letters to the editor, op-eds, press releases, and appeared in the media pushing for the passage of a bill they helped to write, the Community Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness (CARE) Act (H.R. 1161).

The wholesalers claim the law would prevent the federal government from usurping the right of states to regulate alcohol under powers granted to them by the 21^st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition and set up the three-tier system of producers, wholesalers, and retailers that persists to this day. The law would exempt alcoholic beverages from the Interstate Commerce Clause’s protection against states enacting laws that discriminate against out-of-state businesses.

In effect, the beer and wine wholesalers associations want the feds to leave alcohol regulation to the states. So, it’s puzzling that when federal agencies heavy-handedly try to regulate alcoholic energy drinks like Four Loko, there’s hasn’t been so much as a peep from the wholesalers.

If you haven’t been following CEI’s writing on the issue, Four Loko was a flavored malt beverage that contained 12 percent alcohol by volume as well as stimulants like caffeine, taurine, and guarana, and was sold in brightly colored 23.5-ounce cans. After a few college kids drank themselves into the hospital and blamed the alcoholic energy drink, Four Loko’s manufacturer, Phusion Projects, found itself at the heart of a media firestorm. (more…)

Reason.tv presents the Bud Bowl of a new generation!

Two drinks, one field, and numerous mixtures of alcohol and caffeine that “cause” young people to engage in risky behavior.

It’s The Battle of the Binge: Buzz Bowl I

Who will come out on top? Four Loko? Joose? Or will it be Senator Schumer (D-NY) and the FDA?

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