Frederick brewery wins First Amendment labeling case in North Carolina

In a victory for a Frederick brewery, a federal judge has struck down as unconstitutional a North Carolina alcohol regulation that prohibited beer labels deemed to be “undignified, immodest, or in bad taste.” U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle last week agreed with Flying Dog Brewery LLC that the regulation violated the free speech rights of the company — and its competitors – by giving the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission virtually unbridled authority to block beer labels through a vague and overbroad restriction standard.