
Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau website
According to news reports, obtaining approval for labels for new alcoholic beverage products from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is still problematic even though the government shutdown has ended (at least for three weeks). The TTB is short staffed and has a large backlog of applications. Compounding the problem is a rush of applications made both before the previous shutdown and also made in anticipation of a resumption of the shutdown after the three week truce ends on February 15, 2019. This has resulted in a higher than normal volume of applications.