The U.S. Tax and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau approved the label “Pink Panty Dropper Watermelon Moonshine.”

You can see the government signature approving this product here and here.

Is this sexist?

According to the Copperhead Mountain Distillery founder John Connelly, Pink Panty Dropper is not intended to be sexist. “My wife came up with that {name}. It’s a little risqué. The label is more cute than sexist. The young lady’s buttocks is not exposed. She’s still got her drawers on,” Connelly told me.

For the record, the Pink Panty Dropper is a punch recipe that college kids like. The South Carolina-based Copperhead Mountain Distillery founder said they chose the Pink Panty Dropper name because watermelon is pink and he’d heard the name before. Connelly encouraged me to not shoot Pink Panty Dropper down, because “It’s real watermelon moonshine. We’re a mom-and-pop distillery. Our purpose is not to just make a top-shelf spirit, but to preserve our moonshine history. We use original old recipes; we are the real deal.”

The spirits industry generally polices itself in promotional matters like this, such as last year’s Dewar’s ads that were deemed sexist. When I referenced the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States’ Code of Responsible Practices, he mentioned he never heard of it.

While the Connellys sound like great people, and I’m all for new mom-and-pop distilleries, you have to know that a half-naked cartoon woman will offend women and men who don’t believe in objectifying women. But I’m willing to give this distillery a pass. For argument’s sake, let’s say they’re naive and really and genuinely think the label is “cute.” They’re only selling the product in the distillery and they’re new.

But why is the TTB allowing this stuff? This now marks the second flavored product we’ve seen with women barely clothed. Today, it’s Pink Panty Dropper and Piehole flavored whiskey. The TTB might as well approve the flavored whiskey: “Who Gives a Shit About Women?”

I understand this government agency is heavily underfunded. But there is no excuse for the TTB, the government’s label authority, to continually approve labels and names that cross the line. Women deserve better.

Fred Minnick is the author of Whiskey Women.