[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 27, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 27CFR19.386]

[Page 374]
 
            TITLE 27--ALCOHOL, TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND FIREARMS
 
 CHAPTER I--ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO TAX AND TRADE BUREAU, DEPARTMENT OF THE 
                                TREASURY
 
PART 19_DISTILLED SPIRITS PLANTS--Table of Contents
 
Subpart M_Processing Operations Other Than Denaturation and Manufacture 
                               of Articles
 
Sec. 19.386  Alcohol content and fill.

    (a) General. (1) At representative intervals during bottling 
operations, proprietors shall test and examine bottled spirits to 
determine whether those spirits agree in alcohol content and quantity 
(fill) with that stated on the label or bottle.
    (2) If the regional director (compliance) finds that a proprietor's 
test procedures do not protect the revenue and ensure label accuracy of 
the bottled product, the regional director may require corrective 
measures.
    (b) Variations in alcohol content and fill. The proprietor shall 
rebottle, recondition, or relabel spirits if the bottle contents do not 
agree with the respective data on the label or bottle as to:
    (1) Quantity (fill), except for such variation as may occur in 
filling conducted in compliance with good commercial practice with an 
overall objective of maintaining 100 percent fill for spirits bottled; 
and/or
    (2) Alcohol content, subject to a normal drop in alcohol content 
which may occur during bottling operations not to exceed:
    (i) 0.25 percent alcohol by volume for products containing solids in 
excess of 600 mg per 100 ml, or
    (ii) 0.25 percent alcohol by volume for all spirits products bottled 
in 50 or 100 ml size bottles, or
    (iii) 0.15 percent alcohol by volume for all other spirits and 
bottle sizes.

For example, a product with a solids content of less than 600 mg per 100 
ml, labeled as containing 40 percent alcohol by volume and bottled in a 
750 ml bottle, would be acceptable if the test for alcohol content found 
that it contained 39.85 percent alcohol by volume.
    (c) Records. Proprietors shall record the results of all tests of 
alcohol content and quantity (fill) in the record required by Sec. 
19.750.

(Sec. 201, Pub. L. 85-859, 72 Stat. 1356, as amended, 1394, as amended 
(26 U.S.C. 5201, 5301)

[51 FR 36395, Oct. 10, 1986, as amended by T.D. ATF-288, 54 FR 47770, 
Nov. 17, 1989]