Posted on October 30, 2009 - by Greg Warwick
State of Maine Attorney General Bans Sale of Fentimans to Minors
Chances are that if you found your way to our blog today, it would be to read about our products and perhaps gain some additional insight into the “brew-haha” taking place in the state of Maine. Just as likely, you’ve read some of the articles about this in The Bangor Daily News, Slashfood.com, Fark.com, in one of the hundreds of national (New York Times, NPR, SF Chronicle) and local newspapers that picked up the AP story that ran yesterday, an equal number of blogs that have picked up on it, or even (fresh off the press) our British brothers’ response to this all (including Fentimans, Ltd at their home office in Hexham, Northumberland, UK.) And you may be asking yourself, it’s pretty clear how the Brits feel about this, but what about the folks at the North American office? Well, let’s have a chat.
On Solid Ground – We’re a Soda (or “Soft Drink,” if you must)
First, we firmly stand on the ground that Fentimans is in the right by offering our Botanically Brewed Beverages (soft drinks, or as we prefer, sodas and mixers) to persons of all ages throughout North America. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows that soft drinks and other beverages under 0.5% alcohol by volume are considered “non-alcoholic” and may be served to persons of all ages. Canada has similar guidelines. Routinely, flavorings use ethyl alcohol as a carrier and these are used in almost all soft drinks, such as Coke, Pepsi, IBC root beer, and just about every other soft drink on the market. Additionally, beverages that are made by a “natural fermentation” process that contain less than 0.5% alcohol also fall into this same category. These would include other fermented soda brands such as Bundeberg Ginger Beer and Kombucha, which is a fermented tea with purported healthy effects (that I’ll leave up to their companies to prove/defend).
“Imitation Liquor?”
Could this be mistaken as a beer bottle?
Second, the reason that the state of Maine Attorney’s General office banned Fentimans for minors (under 21), was that they determined that the Fentimans bottle gave the “appearance, taste and smell … designed to carry the impression to the purchaser that the beverage has an alcohol content” and it was therefore deemed an “imitation liquor.” The reason that I specifically mentioned IBC Root Beer, above (or you could just as easily use Sprecher’s as an example, since the company also brews beer and puts their sodas in the same bottles) is that these sodas could easily be taken as a beer bottle from their shape. Since they use extracts in their products and therefore contain trace amounts of alcohol, why shouldn’t they also be banned for sale to minors in Maine? And how about other little guys like us just trying to make ends meet, like Ed & Pete’s Old Fashioned Lemonade from Rhode Island? Chances are, they are distributed in Maine as well. Could their bottle be taken as a beer bottle? The clear answer is that these products should not be taken as “imitation liquors,” and neither should Fentimans sodas.
A Little Common Sense and Perhaps a Teaching Moment, Too
Third, we’re asking for some plain old-fashioned (appropriate word for our time-honored, traditional sodas) common sense when it comes to the subject of alcohol. Why not use Fentimans as a teaching moment to educate your children about alcohol? Perhaps it would be good for them to know about fermentation and that minute amounts of alcohol are in any number of products that we consume. Then get to real topic about true alcoholic beverages. Of course, we support zero tolerence when it comes to minors consuming adult beverages (beer, wine, spirits, malternatives [like Mike's Hard Lemonade] and other fruit-based beverages over 0.5% alcohol). But let companies such as Fentimans do what we have been doing for decades (104 years) and continue to make and offer all-natural, Botanically Brewed Sodas. (Ginger is our base in most of our products as a core botanical and does have some wonderful health characteristics, but we’ll leave that for another entry.)
What do you think? We would love to have you weigh in, both in your responses below, and in your blogs, which you are welcome to include in your posts. Thanks for your support & understanding.
Cheers!
17 Comments
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November 4, 2009
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Laurence Dishman said:
In you blog entry you state in part: “The clear answer is that these products should be taken as “imitation liquors”, and neither should Fentimans sodas.”
Shouldn’t it read: “should not be taken…”
BTW: it would be really helpful if your website identified the major distributers of your products in each state/provence.
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November 4, 2009
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Greg Warwick said:
Laurence,
Thanks for catching this. Yes indeed, it should have been NOT and I’ve corrected this. We’re working to include a look-up of distributors and retailers in our blog and hope to have this incorporated shortly. We have a couple distributors that cover Michigan, including Peters Imports, whom I would suggest that you contact. We are currently working to source lists of all of our retailers from our distributors.
Best Regards,
Greg
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November 5, 2009
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Emmett said:
Speaking as an American (now in England), I have to say that I completely understand how my country would react to a statement of “less than 0.5% alcohol”. I’ve known plenty of folks to react with upset at the idea that wine might be in a pasta sauce, or in a fondue. It’s an uphill battle.
My personal recommendation varies depending upon the goal. For financial success, take off the “contains less than 0.05% alcohol” statement. It’s not a guarantee in the USA, it’s a threat to parents. Sounds ludicrous, but it is.
But my own personal gut feeling is: stick with it, and get through the US via the underground.
Oh, and I’m SURE you had a really awesome root beer at some point in your company’s history. Root beer is *huge* in the US now. Introduce a real, _old_ recipe, brewed root beer or sarsparilla, and you’re golden there.
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November 14, 2009
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Heidi said:
Instead of all this brouhaha about Fentimans why don’t the Americans label their imitation food products as such? It is amazing when you read ingredient labels what is actually inside some products. Anyways I just found out about Fentimans after sampling it at Costco in Richmond, BC. I bought a dozen bottles and they are rapidly disappearing. Where can I purchase Fentimans in Vancouver?
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November 14, 2009
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Greg Warwick said:
Hi Heidi,
Thanks for picking up an assortment of Fentimans products at the Costco in Richmond, BC. Our company’s headquarters is actually located in Burnaby, and we will have a customer service manager get in touch with you to identify some retailers that carry our products in Vancouver. We’re happy you’re pleased with our all-natural sodas and agree that things would be better if more products were as straight-forward with labeling their ingredients. Cheers!
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December 8, 2009
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Jackie said:
I can’t get enough of this soda!! I live in BC, Canada and demand knowing where I can buy the stuff? I first tried it while on a trip in the UK last summer and have only been able to get it directly from Amazon.com. I contacted the customer service via the Burnaby email address but have gotten no response!! Please help me if you can otherwise I might as well stick with the retailer on Amazon.com for purchasing Fenitmans when I’d rather buy it in Canada and save money! I’d appreciate any feedback thanks!
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December 11, 2009
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Tiffany said:
This is exactly like you said “bruhaha”. I am wondering why such an amazing soda is being banned but the children of Maine are still being stuffed full of high fructose corn syrup, GMO products, and fast food.
Give their children diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, etc., but don’t you dare even IMPLY that they may get alcohol.
BTW *GUM* has the “contains less than 0.5% alcohol” label.
This is beyond ridiculous… Maine has hit ludicrous speed, and they can’t stop. It’s too dangerous.
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January 11, 2010
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Leslie May said:
I was amazed to read in the “Evening Chronicle” that Fentiman’s had been reincarnated. Maybe I am the last person in the world to find this out. I have replied to Ray Marshall’s article which I hope will appear in the paper later this week. I worked at the factory in King street 1949/50 when I was 16 years old. I knew Tom Fentiman who used to be upstairs brewing. Was he Eldon’s grandfather? I reckon he would have been born about 1895 giving 5 years each way.The family lived on Lobley Hill at that time. I used to carry the half gallon bottles to the bays (four in each hand) or maybe work on the bottle washing machine.On a few occasions bottles would explode when they were stacked which was difficult to anticipate. Tommy Fentiman was always quickly on the scene at these critical times. Well I will keep looking onto your Website for further information about Fentimans’s. I could write all day about my time working down King street and I was pleased to hear that the building has been listed. I would love to walk through the building which would bring the memories flooding back. When I go up to Hexham sometime in the summer I will call in for a bottle of ginger beer. Best wishes to all the staff at the new factory with the hope that you have a long and prosperous future.
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February 11, 2010
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Leslie May said:
I would just like to add to my earlier comment. Harry Forbes was the man in charge of the soft drinks machine keeping a watch in case there were any break down which happened from time to time. Harry was married I believe to one of Tommy Fentimans’s daughters. There were two elderly men one we called old Tom who may have been related to the Fentiman family. Tom was about seventy years old in 1950. There was another old timer Arthur a little bit younger who I believe lived near Stanley and a staunch supporter of a cricket team near where he lived. Johnny Mac’henry. John lived nearby in King street was the charge hand on the ginger beer and Hops where I worked and Bob filled the half gallon bottles. We filled a thousand bottles of ginger beer in the morning and five hundred bottles of hops in the afternoon. Some of the lads I recall were Billy Sharp who hailed from Birmingham, John Conlan, Billy Armstrong and his uncle Norman Armstrong. Billy Snaith on the soft drinks machine. I used to fill the crates after work time for one of the drivers Billy Bell and received two shillings which got me an hour on the snooker table after work at one of the only two snooker tables in Gateshead on Coatsworth road. One lad who worked with me and just lived yards away on Lobley hill road was Joe Appleby who was a amateur radio fanatic. Joe went into the RAF when he was eighteen and I haven’t seen him since. I hope he reads this and gets in touch.
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February 11, 2010
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Leslie May said:
I forgot to add that Tommy Fentiman was a very generous man. The only Xmas I was at the factory (1949) we all got double wages. For me that amounted to about £3 and eighteen shillings. A fortune for me then I can tell you.
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March 9, 2010
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Hunter said:
Banning this great brand of soft drink is absurd. I fell in love with Dandelion & Burdock when I was in the UK on holiday and when I got back to the states I found Fentiman’s. I called up the company, found a distributor and now I regularly order in cases of Dandelion & Burdock and Curiosity Cola. Two of the finest products I have had the fortune to purchase. Keep up the good work and keep the chin up. Maine just has no class.
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April 3, 2010
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Geoff Crowther said:
Is there a distributor in Atlantic Canada? We are looking to add some specialty beverages in our tea room in Prince Edward Island, and after sampling your D&B I believe your products will fit the bill!
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April 7, 2010
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rom said:
It is exactly this kind of lack of common sense that is ruining western civilization. The individuals involved with prosecuting Fentimans should be fired without pension. That’s just my opinion.
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April 14, 2010
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Milan said:
In the Colbert Report segment on this, several prominent soft drinks were named along with the alcohol percentages they contain.
Is this information available online somewhere, from a credible source?
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April 14, 2010
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dbujnak said:
Hi Milan,
We sent samples to an independent lab for testing and shared the results with “The Colbert Report.”
I was not able to find any source online that listed actual trace alcohol amounts in sodas, though the FDA recognizes that many soft drinks contain traces of alcohol, and (as long as the amount is 0.5% or less) allows them to be labelled “non-alcoholic” but not “alcohol-free.”
I would be happy to send you a copy of the signed lab report with test results – just drop me a line at info@drinkfentimans.com
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July 28, 2010
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Kerrie said:
I have noticed that the main page (www.fentimas.com) occassionally has a couple of ad-images that describe them as an “adult soft drink”. Perhaps that label scares some folks off?
Not me, though. I had heard about Fentimans Victorian Lemonade (can’t remember where), and when I saw it while visiting family in RI, I had to pick up one of each that they sold- the lemonade, Seville Orange Jigger, Curiosity Cola, & Dandelion & Burdock. Personally, I liked the lemonade & dandelion/burdock drinks best, & the cola as well, though it was rich for me. (Reminded me of the cola Bottlcaps candy- memories!) Haven’t been able to find it in Western MA or Brattleboro, VT yet, but will keep looking! (I will defnitely get more when I visit RI this weekend!)
I’m sure my husband & I will let our son drink Fentimans, once we allow him to drink soft drinks (he just turned 1 year old this month, so not yet)!