Legalese on home brew labels?

So I was asked to brew a 25th anniversary beer for my work place. The beer has been brewed, bottled and is supposed to be given away with other promo items in a week or two. Our design team is working on a label but now the owners are concerned about any liability issues in giving away beer. Does anybody know what - if any - disclaimers I should include on the label? My Google searches keep taking me to TTB.gov but I can't find anything about label requirements specifically for beers not for resale. I was going to keep it safe and include the ABLA warning:

GOVERNMENT WARNING:
(1) According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects.

(2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery, and may cause health problems.

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Any HBT'ers smart with this kinda stuff?

How about this one:

If you do not know what alcohol is and how it may affect you, please report to HR for voluntary resignation, as you may lack the common sense necessary to work here.

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Are you worried about potential liability for distributing homebrew, liability arising from providing alcohol to minors, providing alcohol to those who may commit a crime or torts while intoxicated or product liability?

A disclaimer/waiver is not going to relieve you of liability for any of the last 3 items. at least in most jurisdictions. For the first issue:

"Promotional item only. Not for individual resale or commercial distribution"

Personally, i believe homebrew should be regarded like a bake sale or something. People trust that what you made will not be harmful to their health and they are assuming that risk when they get it

but legally, I just know that you cannot advertise your homebrew or its considered that you are trying to turn a profit. Its dependant on whether theres any dick cops there or how discrete your coworkers are but if word got into the wrong hands, it wouldnt be good

Question for the OP: Why are you even considering this? Are you thinking of distributing your beer somehow? Are you just being overly cautious? Or do you just want your beer bottles to look "commercial"? What advantage do you hope such a labeling will achieve?

If you think a warning label will protect you from liability should something bad happen to someone after consuming your homebrew, you might want to think again. Those warnings are in place on commercial beverage labels because the consumer may or may not be aware of the risks at the time of purchase. However, those warnings will not protect the brewer in the event a customer gets hurt and files a tort action. Similarly, those warnings won't help you either in similar circumstances.

Edit: Here is a good primer on warning labels and tort law.

m00ps said:

Personally, i believe homebrew should be regarded like a bake sale or something. People trust that what you made will not be harmful to their health and they are assuming that risk when they get it

but legally, I just know that you cannot advertise your homebrew or its considered that you are trying to turn a profit. Its dependant on whether theres any dick cops there or how discrete your coworkers are but if word got into the wrong hands, it wouldnt be good

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What do you mean by not advertising about home brew?

MaxStout said:

Question for the OP: Why are you even considering this? Are you thinking of distributing your beer somehow? Are you just being overly cautious? Or do you just want your beer bottles to look "commercial"? What advantage do you hope such a labeling will achieve?

If you think a warning label will protect you from liability should something bad happen to someone after consuming your homebrew, you might want to think again. Those warnings are in place on commercial beverage labels because the consumer may or may not be aware of the risks at the time of purchase. However, those warnings will not protect the brewer in the event a customer gets hurt and files a tort action. Similarly, those warnings won't help you either in similar circumstances.

Edit: Here is a good primer on warning labels and tort law.

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He is giving away beer that he's brewing for his company, I think.

OP: like others have said, warnings and such aren't going to release you from liability. What are the owners specifically worried about? You said it was all good until the owners decided there may be an issue. Certainly if you have a designer doing the labels, a company, and an owner, then that dude has a lawyer on staff.

i was talking with a former homebrewer that opened a brewery about the specifics on what is and isnt legal with homebrewing. I wanted to have a free homebrew tasting stand in my yard during a music festival that was taking place right in front of my building. I was going to be on my own property, but out in the public eye. He told me that I wouldnt be able to have any sort of sign advertising my homebrew even if it stated it was free and you needed to be over 21

In California, just giving away the homebrew is illegal... After that, you have no leg to stand on (sorry Yooper!)

Presuming your company has general liability insurance, there is coverage for "host liquor liability". (Liability for bodily injury or property damage arising out of the serving or distribution of alcoholic beverages by a party not engaged in this activity as a business enterprise.) For coverage to apply, your company cannot be in the business of liquor sales and you cannot sell your home brew (a no-no anyway).
You, supplying the beer, are included in the definition of "who is an insured" as you are doing this on the company's behalf in the event you're litigated because someone claims they got sick, or got drunk and injured someone.
I'd keep the label simple. Identify it as "company X beer" . Keep your personal name off it . You don't need disclaimers, warnings, etc.

Edited to add my own disclaimer...... You should ALWAYS check with your legal and risk advisors on this stuff. Certain issues can vary by state.

Given away to co-workers or to people off the street? If the former, Are we talking about a company the size of GE or is it a small business?

ETA: the owners should call their lawyers and not put the burden on you to sort this out.

One more edit: remember, the company's lawyers aren't necessarily YOUR lawyers.

Jesus, that was fast, haha... Tons of quality info though, I really appreciate all the input!

Just a little background, I work for a small (about 20 people) marketing, promo and printing company. I made the mistake of having an order from Midwest shipped here; in hindsight, I should've just risked the yeast sitting in the hot sun on my front porch for a couple days, rather than having the order shipped here, but anyway…… Long story short, the owners thought it'd be cool to brew a beer for the company's 25th anniversary and hand out the beers to some of our clients. So I obliged and now we're a week or two away from handing out a tasty Raspberry Stout.

I don't think there are necessarily any specific liability concerns, but the one owner used her local farmer's market as an example; whenever she buys one of their home made products, the label usually has a disclaimer and/or list of ingredients. In my mind though, because this is something we're not selling, that sort of info really isn't necessary. I suppose as a courtesy we could include the ingredients, but who the hell is gonna know what Maris Otter, Carafa III, Ahtanum, Fuggles, Safale S-04, etc. etc. etc. are??? I would think/hope that anybody who knows they have any sort of intolerance to beer would probably know they shouldn't drink this. As for anybody under 21, I don't think there'd be any here but that's really up to us to police anyway. Hell, we've had events here in the past where we had beer and wine set up as refreshments, so how is this any different than that?

I agree that this should really be a question addressed by the company's lawyers and not me. The one owner is in a long term relationship with one, as a matter of fact. I already mentioned the ABLA disclaimer and will definitely mention the "promotional item only" disclaimer as suggested by joyceman, so hopefully that'll suffice.

Thanks again for everybody's input!

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrewing-rights/statutes/Maryland/

Pretty straight forward that in Maryland you are only allowed to brew homebrew for personal consumption for yourself and family or to submit for homebrew competitions.

I would say giving away homebrew as part of a company sponsored promotion would be illegal

I would say back in the day all is fine. Hell companies used throw their own keggers.

Now there is a disclaimer for everything. Your company insurance will definately say no for a company supplying any alcohol for liability.

Now for this small company they could get away with it depending on the cliental that will be receiving the brew. All it takes is one to file some crazy stupidazz lawsuit.

Or make them all sign a legal waiver for receiving the brew but this might not be a good promotional practice.

So you give the beer to the company, and what they do with it (including the labeling) is their problem.

Otherwise, as Nancy Reagan put it, "Just say 'No.'" Either the company indemnifies you, or they can go someplace hot.

"You accept all risks and take responsibility for your actions after opening this bottle." Plain and simple. Maybe add something funny like "If you get promoted, a party breaks out, you are a guest on The Price Is Right and win a new car or the Showcase Showdown you're not required to share any of that with the person who made this, gave it to you or participated in any event with you."

EDIT: If you're a recovering, or any type of alcoholic don't drink the contents of this bottle.

Little late on the reply....how'd the giveaway turn out?

As my signature alludes, bureaucracy often spoils the things we appreciate and enjoy.

Cheers,
AlfA

AlfA01 said:

Little late on the reply....how'd the giveaway turn out?

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You'll have to wait for the OP to get their complimentary 15 minutes of weekly computer time courtesy of pound me in the arse penitentiary to reply.

DurtyChemist said:

"You accept all risks and take responsibility for your actions after opening this bottle."

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"This product is NOT for sale and is given as a gift ONLY."
"By opening this bottle, you agree to accept all risks & take responsibility for your actions, the makers and/or distributors of this product cannot be held liable for any damages, situations or poor choices made by the consumer of this product. Additionally, the consumer waives their right to litigation against said makers & distributors of this product."
"Please drink responsibly."

Regards, GF.

blizz81 said:

You'll have to wait for the OP to get their complimentary 15 minutes of weekly computer time courtesy of pound me in the arse penitentiary to reply.

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I love Office Space too!

So after all that, "Please enjoy responsibly" was the only thing they put on the label, haha. We're a small company and they were only given to our closest clients so I guess they felt comfortable enough not including 3 paragraphs worth of warnings. It came out really good though, people really enjoyed it. They actually included it as part of a little gift pack that also included peanuts, a bottle opener and a reusable insulated pouch.

(And no, peanuts were not my choice to pair with a raspberry stout. Sadly, the non-beer drinkers higher up in the chain vetoed dark chocolate )

With the rise of peanut allergies today, I am surprised that went over.