Description of Incident: The State of Maine refused permission to sell three of Shelton Brothers Brewersﾒ beers because the State deemed their labels ﾓundignified or improperﾔ. The most controversial label was for the beer they call ﾓSantaﾒs Butt Winter Porterﾔ which features Santaﾒs fully-clothed derriere perched atop a barrel (or ﾓbuttﾔ) of beer. In addition to ﾓSantaﾒs Buttﾔ, at question were ﾓLes Sans Culottesﾔ, featuring Delacroixﾒs classic painting ﾓLiberty Leading the Peopleﾔ, and ﾓRose de Gambrinusﾔ, featuring a watercolor painting of the king of Flanders sitting with a bare-breasted woman.

Results of Incident:  On November 30, 2006, the Maine Civil Liberties Union Foundation (MCLU) filed a case against government censorship on behalf of Daniel Shelton. With the help of MCLU, Shelton won the lawsuit; in a letter dated December 22, 2006, Maineﾒs Liqour Licensing Unit Inspector Supervisor Jeffrey Austin told Shelton Brothers Brewers that they could register the label for ﾓSantaﾒs Butt Winter Porterﾔ, which features Santaﾒs fully-clothed derriere perched atop a barrel (or ﾓbuttﾔ) of beer. While Shelton did win his case, unfortunately the ruling did not come in time for the company to be able to get the label out onto the bottles for the 2006 Christmas season. The MCLU has not stopped there; they intend to continue fighting the Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement ensuring that they stop censoring all labels.