The government is forcing a craft brewery to change the name of its 'LSD Ale'


Indeed Brewing's LSD Ale doesn't contain any illegal drugs: The 'LSD' acronym stands for the lavender, sunflower honey, and dates used to make the seasonal craft brew. That doesn't matter to federal regulators, however, who forced the Twin Cities-based brewery to change the beer's name before permitting it to be sold across state lines.
Though Minnesota regulators did not object to the name or acronym, "the feds did not like the name LSD," said Indeed co-founder Thomas Whisenand, and they "made that clear very quickly."
"We tried to find a way we could keep it on the label, like could we spell out the words and just bold the first letters," Whisenand added, "but unfortunately we sell a regulated product and there's not much you can do when the feds say no." Brewers who make beers that reference marijuana — and there are a lot of them — have been subject to similar scrutiny: Lagunitas Brewery even named a beer its "CENSORED ale" after its original name, The Kronik, was nixed by the feds.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Democrats’ strategy to woo voters for 2026: religion
The Explainer Politicians like Rob Sand and James Talarico have made a name for themselves pushing their faith
-
Pregnancy in America
Feature Why is it getting riskier to give birth in the U.S.?
-
The potential warning sign of an auto lender’s bankruptcy
In the Spotlight Tricolor collapse an ‘extreme example’ of economy’s challenges
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to Trump
Speed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raids
Speed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raid
Speed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'
Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearing
Speed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mount
Speed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own list
speed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battle
Speed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants