Brewery Tour Co. Fights for Beer-Themed Plates

A New Hampshire man who arranges tours of craft breweries is fighting the state to get vanity license plates that read "BREWBUS", "GROWLER" or "NHBEER".

David Adams, owner of Granite State Growler Tours, already has a plate that reads "BEERBUS" on the vehicle he uses to drive his customers around. But when he went to get a vanity plate for a second van, he was denied because state rules ban all references to intoxicants on license plates.

According to the Portsmouth Herald, state Sen. Nancy Stiles looked into the issue and says the rules will be reconsidered next month at a meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative rules.

"We are not endorsing illegal drugs or illegal activities," Adams wrote to state officials in October. "I would simply like to promote my business on my company vehicle, which is also the main focus of my business. My license plates are advertising, something people on the street remember and comment on. It's been part of our identity for the past year and a half."

The state Supreme Court in May ruled that a vanity plate reading "COPSLIE" could not be denied because the message is protected free speech. Since then, the Division of Motor Vehicles has issued a temporary set of rules banning any reference to intimate body parts or genitals, sexual or excretory acts or functions, words or terms of profanity or obscenity, violence, illegal activities, intoxicants, drugs or drug culture, gangs, or racial, ethnic, religious, gender or sexual orientation hatred or bigotry.