To be taxed and treated as beer or brewed beverages, 51% or more of the alcohol in these beverages must be the product of brewing and no more than 49% of alcohol may come from other added flavorings.
In addition, the alcohol content must appear on the label of flavored malt beverages, unless prohibited by state law. In developing the regulations, TTB found that a large number of these products, which are popular, derive nearly all their alcohol content from added flavorings containing distilled spirits. Manufacturers have one year to comply with the new regulations.