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It turns out you can hide an entire brewery (or not even have a brewery) and pretend to produce a craft beer, advertise it as such, and it's not even against the law. For years, Blue Moon Brewing Co. has been passing off its beers as "microbrews", or "craft beers", while curiously building market share beyond what a craft brewery could actually produce. The catch is that Blue Moon is semi-secret brand of MillerCoors LLC. CourtHouseNews reports:
Evan Parent, who describes himself as a "beer aficionado," began buying Blue Moon beer in 2011, but stopped in about mid-2012 when he discovered it is made by MillerCoors LLC, which owns widely recognizable labels such as Coors, Miller High Life, Milwaukee's Best and Hamms.
Parent started a class action law suit against MillerCoors in San Diego state court, claiming deceptive practices and misrepresentation in violation of California's Consumers Legal Remedies Act; untrue and misleading advertising in violation of California's false advertising law; and unlawful, fraudulent and unfair business practices in violation of California's unfair competition law.
Under craft-brewing principles [as defined by the Brewers Association], brewers cannot produce more the 6 million barrels of beer annually, must be less than 25 percent owned by a non-craft brewer and must brew beer using only traditional or innovative brewing ingredients. In comparison, MillerCoors makes about 76 million barrels of beer per year, according to Parent who says the company charges "up to 50 percent more for Blue moon" based on its bogus craft-beer status. He also claims the company "goes to great lengths to disassociate Blue Moon beer from the MillerCoors name" by stating on Blue Moon packaging that it is brewed by Blue Moon Brewing Co.
MillerCoors managed to get the case moved to federal court, and the judge handed MillerCoors a slam dunk win on all counts. MillerCoors found specific loopholes in California law that allowed them to produce beer under "fictitious names" if they just register those names on the official "fictitious names" registry. The plaintiff has 30 days to amend the complaint after the judge's final order.
takyon: MillerCoors LLC is a joint venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing Company that was created in 2007 and approved by U.S. antitrust regulators in 2008. It has been described as a challenger to Anheuser-Busch. However, SABMiller recently agreed to be purchased by Anheuser-Busch InBev for $106 billion. MillerCoors may be dismantled by regulators and some brands could be divested.
Previously: Congress May Lower Beer Taxes, Sam Adams Could Cease to be "Craft Beer"
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 28 2015, @11:12AM
So MillerCoors follows letter of the law, while absolutely destroying the spirit. In so doing, they destroy a whole industry.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday October 28 2015, @11:28AM
My prediction: Off the back of this, all big breweries will produce "craft" brands and destroy the meaning of the term completely. Within months, beer snobs will see what's going on and come up with a new term that means what craft was supposed to mean before it got usurped. Legislation will follow, protecting the new term from being abused until some brewery finds a loophole and the whole cycle repeats.
What isn't discussed is how this blue moon stuff is made. The bottom line should be not how big the company is or how many barrels get made, but whether or not it is actually "craftfully" made. Is it lovingly brewed from hand-rolled midnight-picked scandinavian hops in antique kettles recovered from an ancient greek shipwreck, with each bottle gently sealed betwixt the milky thighs of an albino guatamalen maiden, or is it just the same old industrial alchopiss with a fancy label slapped on it?
(Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday October 28 2015, @12:58PM
Hmm, "albino guatamalen maidens..."
Sorry, drifted there for a moment.
The replacement word you're looking for is "artisanal." The hipsters in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, have made that a thing. You can even buy 'artisanal' paper and pickles now. "Bespoke" is probably a close second, but that one sticks in your craw.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Zinho on Wednesday October 28 2015, @02:17PM
I really hope people aren't using "bespoke" as a synonym for "artisanal". At least when you're talking about clothing, "bespoke" means tailored specifically for a particular person; it's what's going on when you see someone getting fitted for a custom suit in the movies etc.
If we were to translate that into brewing, for a beer batch to be "bespoke" it would have to be an entire batch brewed for a specific person's tastes, on demand. I can't imagine that ever happening, due to a) cost (buying the entire batch?), b) inability of customer to communicate/brewer to divine what would make the best beer for a specific customer. At a microbrew level perhaps that's possible. I don't think it would be practical at any level of industrial scale, even a craft brewery is too big for something like that.
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Wednesday October 28 2015, @02:42PM
Yes, so based on your commentary, expect these words to mean something else to a brewer because they already mean the wrong thing to other people.
These terms are ripe for profitable harvest and exploitation as being presented as new marketing words to mean "for the discriminating ignorant man who consumes beer based on naming conventions alone and copious flesh colored advertisements"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Zinho on Wednesday October 28 2015, @05:36PM
Yeah, I saw an article in WaPo about hipsters bringing back "vintage" language. [washingtonpost.com] I was hoping they were using the words properly as charming anachronisms; I guess it's inevitable that the definitions would shift when usage resumes. My wife's got her Bachelor's degree in Linguistics, and she'd tell me not to be surprised at this. Doesn't keep me from being disappointed by the words getting mis-appropriated.
Come to think if it, that article may make a decent submission... I'll put it in the firehose later.
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday October 28 2015, @04:06PM
It's not a synonym, but it is a trend following closely on the heels of "artisanal." "Bespoke" can mean "tailored for an individual," but it can also be construed as, "custom." You could create a "bespoke" brew for Halloween (meaning, "pumpkin flavored"). I've seen things like that in Brooklyn, and it makes me laugh. But people do it, and call it such.
Language is a hotly contested space, though most people don't think of it that way.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday October 28 2015, @01:09PM
Agreed. Growing up, everyone I knew argued over the best beer, all of them pilseners. Then, I started traveling, and got to sample all kinds of things that family and friends never exposed me to. Compared to almost any ale, pilseners are just so much piss water. The only ale that I was aware of, in the US, was Red White and Blue light ale, made in Frankenmuth Michigan. Then, Carling bought them out, and that ale pretty much disappeared.
There's not much to choose from among the major beer makers in the US. Coors seemed somewhat different, for awhile, but they lost it quite a long while back.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Francis on Wednesday October 28 2015, @03:27PM
Either you don't know beer or you haven't been looking hard enough. There's a ton of legitimate microbrews out there to be had, it's just that they're mostly regional. If you're buying it at a bar that doesn't brew or the grocery store, that's a sign that you should have some skepticism about the product you're being offered. In most cases those aren't going to be microbrews.
That being said, some of the local restaurants have their own brewery on site and you better believe that the quality there is going to be better than what you get out of the likes of AB and their ilk.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 28 2015, @04:15PM
I hope you realise that they are regional because of the corrupt anticompetitive practices of the multinationals (including, but not limited to the "three tier" system which grossly favours them).
(Score: 1) by Francis on Wednesday October 28 2015, @09:00PM
They're regional because it makes no sense to ship them out of state when there's plenty of demand locally. Why spend money promoting nationally when you only have enough to satisfy regional demand?
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday October 28 2015, @11:44AM
Hyperbole much?
Only a few self described "beer aficionados" like Evan Parent and yourself will stop drinking these fake micro brews. And you know what, no one cares one bit. Keep your phony sophistication in your little circle jerk. The rest of us who actually enjoy drinking good beer, will continue to do so.
My take? As deceptive as it is, it was the only way for a piss brewer to sell good beer. Imagine if Budweiser opened a microbrewery. Before the first batch was fermented, beer phonies would take to social media and blogs deriding them for even attempting to try. So they are forced to lie in order to secure a market full of fake snobs.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday October 28 2015, @03:57PM
So MillerCoors follows letter of the law, while absolutely destroying the spirit.
I seem to recall that it says who it's brewed by right on the bottle. Maybe this has changed recently? I really think that's following the letter and spirit of the law (if my recollection is correct).
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday October 28 2015, @04:11PM
Hmm, bit of Google Image research:
I think they have either changed recently or it depends on the market. Some of the labels do indicate Coors' involvement (primarily European versions) though I distinctly remember similar labeling in WA a few years ago.
Some of the other labels in there do seem pretty deceptive and don't mention Coors at all.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday October 28 2015, @11:57PM
Craft brewing is growing despite whatever AnheuserBuschInBevSABMiller are doing. The Brewers Association has set a target of 20% market share by 2020, and they can probably reach it.
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