Ron Extract and Amber Watts of Garden Path Fermentation moved to the Skagit Valley in Washington state to make beer, wine, cider and mead from ingredients sourced from their own backyard using native yeast fermentation. They were drawn by the uniquely fertile soils and cool, temperate climate.
Their focus on seasonality and quality of fruit – as well as an interest in sharing this information with their customers – led them to put a vintage label on their cider. Many of these labels were easily approved, but when they produced a cider that was 7.2% ABV, their vintage label was rejected. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) said they can’t put a vintage label on cider, as this designation is limited to wine made from grapes.
From Extract’s perspective, this seemed strange, so he contacted Justin Leigh. Leigh had the unique distinction of formerly owning Dwinell County Ales in Goldendale, Washington. He currently owns and farms his own cider orchard and, perhaps most importantly, he is a lawyer who has filed court cases on behalf of small alcoholic beverage producers. Extract knew that Leigh had filed lawsuits against government agencies to challenge restrictive alcohol regulations in the past and he wanted to see if there was a way to challenge these label denials.
Leigh, as a cidermaker and orchard owner and farmer, had run into this legal quirk. Cider under 7% ABV is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which has no restrictions on labeling fermented agricultural products with a vintage year. A different federal agency, the TTB, regulates the labeling of cider over 7% ABV. This federal agency has a regulation dating back to 1978 that restricts vintage labeling to only wine made from grapes. By producing a cider that was just over 7% ABV, Garden Path could no longer put vintage information on the label.
“This restriction is specifically applied to mead, cider and fruit wine,” says Extract. “The law should be designed to protect the consumer interest. There’s no reason not to share this information. Vintage is important because it is the year that the fruit is harvested. Changing this rule will allow cider makers to do what winemakers have done for a long time.”
Garden Path is joined in their federal lawsuit by Peter Wright, a consumer who purchases cider, mead, fruit wine and grape wine. Wright also values vintage year information. Wright says in the lawsuit that he has been harmed by the government suppressing this information.
The complaint contends that the rule violates the First Amendment by suppressing truthful commercial speech without evidence of consumer harm and without reasonable justification. In addition, the plaintiffs state that the TTB went beyond its rule making power by unreasonably restricting truthful consumer information. In 2024, the Supreme Court ended the decades-old Chevron doctrine that made courts defer to federal agencies when they interpreted statutes to create rules. This post-Chevron shift of power from federal agencies to courts provides more fertile ground for this lawsuit. The defendants who represent the TTB have been served and have 90 days to respond.
Leigh has received a variety of governmental responses in similar lawsuits he’s filed on behalf of small alcoholic beverage producers in the past. A lawsuit on behalf of brewers against the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission was swiftly resolved, but a case by out-of-state distillers in Washington has been contentious. “It will be interesting to see whether and to what extent they fight this,” says Leigh.
For more information on the case: Garden Path Fermentation, LLC v. United States, Cause No. 1:26-CV-3002, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.
