GRAND RAPIDS — You can't read the words "Raging Bitch" on a beer bottle — at least not in Michigan.

For Flying Dog Brewery, it’s a flagrant constitutional violation.

“It’s really incredible that, in 2011, we’re still talking about moral crusades by the liquor commission,” attorney Alan Gura said Wednesday in U.S. District Court.

"We sell in 27 states. This is the only state where we've had this kind of issue."



Flying Dog Brewery filed a federal lawsuit against the state Liquor Control Commission after the LCC denied its request to register the label for Raging Bitch beer.

The state says the LCC can reject any beer label “that is deemed to promote violence, racism, sexism, intemperance, or intoxication or to be detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of the general public.”

It determined that Raging Bitch is degrading to women, with illustrations on the label depicting female body parts, Assistant Attorney General Melinda Leonard said.

As part of its lawsuit, Flying Dog is seeking an injunction to prevent the LCC from withholding registration of the controversial label. U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker said he would issue a written opinion after providing both sides the chance to further file briefs.

The standard for an injunction is high, but Jonker told state attorneys they also face hurdles if they want to prevail in the lawsuit.

The state already has approved controversial labels.

“Do you think Doggy Style Pale Ale is better?” the judge asked the state attorney. “Or In-Heat Wheat? Do you think they’re substantially different? How about Dirty Bastard?,” the latter a reference to a Grand Rapids-based Founders dark brew.

Leonard said Raging Bitch went far beyond “tacky.” The state has compared the use of the word for a female dog to use of the “n” word, and said the label shows “women as wild animals that need to be tamed.”

Jonker wasn’t impressed by the brewer’s First Amendment claims, either. The state isn’t preventing free speech, but preventing the sale of beer with that particular label.

“Selling beer is not exactly the focal point of the First Amendment,” he said.

E-mail John Agar: jagar@grpress.com