Controversy Brewing in Aroostook County

Aroostook County substance abuse prevention professionals, law enforcement, and Maine’s Attorney General have all been taking some heat from global media sources because of their decision to ban the sale of Fentimans Victorian Lemonade to minors.

There are two reasons why this decision was necessary:
1) Because Fentimans’ products are carbonated through fermentation, they contain a small amount of alcohol (0.5% or less).
2) Fentimans’ products are designed and marketed in such a way as to be considered “imitation liquor.”

Fentimans certainly meets the alcohol content requirements… but what about the imitation liquor charge? Consider the following:

• Fentimans itself markets the drink as an adult soft drink (“Fentimans botanically brewed beverages are the original adult soft drinks.")
  

• A product in the same product line, the Shandy, contains non-alcoholic beer, and another product, the Seville Orange Jigger, refers to a device used for measuring alcohol.

• Prominent food reviews before the Houlton incident considered Fentimans an adult soda and a good mixer for alcoholic beverages.

It’s disingenuous for Fentimans to now claim that their product is “just a soda.” By suggesting that the alcohol content is the only reason for the “imitation liquor” classification, Fentimans displays not only a misunderstanding of Maine state law, but a complete disregard for how their product marketing and packaging might contribute to making underage drinking acceptable. Perhaps Fentimans should instead be concerned with children in their own country, especially when the UK leads the world in underage drinking and children under 12 regularly get admitted to ER's for alcohol poisoning.

The Fentimans Blog does make a good point: that other companies sell product (IBC root beer in particular) in beer-imitating containers—and that such containers are problematic. However, IBC does not contain alcohol, which exempts it from Maine’s “imitation liquor” statutes. Other products, like kombucha, which do contain a small amount of alcohol from fermentation, aren’t mistakeable for an alcoholic drink, and so are also exempt.

On their site, the Fentimans’ company snarkily makes fun of the folks in the County who are earnestly looking out for the welfare of youth, but we applaud the Aroostook Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition for taking an unpopular stand. Underage drinking is a serious matter, and when kids enjoy pretending to drink they are setting themselves up for some bad habits.