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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: 4, Interesting) by iamjacksusername on Wednesday October 28 2015, @11:39AM
Complaining does not make him a douche-bag; in fact, I think he has a good case. MillerCoors when out of their way to make everyone believe Blue Moon is a "craft" beer. The douche-bag part comes from this gem:
'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'
He stopped buying it because he is a "beer aficionado" and he found out Blue Moon was made by MillerCoors. Obviously, he liked it before he found out it was made by MillerCoors so not liking it after the fact seems a bit "beer snob" to me. I say this as someone who drinks craft IPAs almost exclusively. I love my craft IPAs but I wouldn't not drink a beer just because it is brewed by MillerCoors.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 28 2015, @12:00PM
Why shouldn't people vote with their dollar, even if they like something? That's how boycotts work.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 28 2015, @01:37PM
To be fair, I don't mind Blue Moon as a beer, it's ... okayish. But after I found out it was a macro, I also stopped buying it, not because I didn't like it, but because it's clearly deceptive and I don't like to support shitty money grabs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 28 2015, @04:09PM
And using the logic I've just learnt - you must be a douche-bag. As am I. And all those presumably lesbian hippy commies who chose to buy food from the local farmers market rather than the $MEGAMARKET are all douchbags too. As are the local farmers for supporting them. Damn, I like this logic, I can probably apply it to everyone, all I need is to find an example of them buying something not from a multinational!
(Score: 1, Redundant) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday October 28 2015, @04:22PM
You're missing the point. Whether it's because you made an honest mistake or because you're an abrasive trollish dipshit I can't tell.
GP clearly states that his objection is to the deceptive nature of the marketing (ie promoting it as a craft beer when it's not). You're the one who came up with the "multinational" strawman.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday October 28 2015, @05:05PM
That's some hipster-ass shit right there. And we all know San Diego doesn't need anymore hipsters...maybe we should deport them to Austin?
Macros can't do IPAs or other stronger beers worth shit (unless they buy one out), but Blue Moon isn't even close to those -- it's a sweet beer commonly served with an orange slice, and for what it is it tastes great and is refreshing on a hot day. I drink it from time to time and will continue to do so, even if it is second in girliness only to Michelob Ultra.
Some macros are shit -- Budweiser, Coors, Miller. But spend a few more pennies and you can get something somewhat drinkable like Corona or Blue Moon or Sam Adams. Just because they're not craft doesn't make them not worth drinking, especially with tamer beers like Belgian Whites.
No, it means that I drank Bud and Bud Light for the first 25 years of life and got tired of it and anything that tastes remotely like it. I'll still drink 'em if there's nothing else available.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Wednesday October 28 2015, @11:55PM
Not supporting the macro breweries is not a hipster statement. If you don't like Wal-Mart's business practices and lobbying, you can choose not the buy from them, and that's a legit choice. If you don't like AnheuserBuschInBevSABMiller's business practices, shitty beer, and their anti-competitive lobbying practices and the shitty three-tier system they continue to prop up, you wouldn't buy from them. You can find out what they've done if you want... it varies from state-to-state and is generally aimed at keeping restrictions in place on smaller breweries and brewpubs. They are little things you don't hear about generally, unless they are egregious, like Florida banning 64 oz growler fills (but not 32 or 128) until recently.
In the case of Blue Moon (AFAICT), it was born and raised under one of the macros in 1995 (and is under the joint venture since 2007). It's not terrible beer(s), but not a brand I would buy at the supermarket. I remember their seasonal Winter Abbey Ale actually being better than the regular kinds... that should be on shelves right about now.
A more interesting case is Goose Island. They were an independent craft brewery, they sold out to InBev, they ceased to be a "craft brewery" by the definition linked in the summary. But they continue to make good beers. It's a stricter test of hipsterism.
However, it's still legit for you to deny business to breweries based on ownership... what makes it a "sin" is bragging about avoiding InBev/SABMiller in attempt to show off your "beer aficionado" cred/peen. And any self-respecting alcoholic will accept what is given to him or her fo' free.
(There are even more esoteric reasons to not drink from a brewery, such as that one lawsuit by Magic Hat [pastemagazine.com])
Evan Parent is an interesting case. Is this the ultimate expression of uninformed beer snobbery? It didn't take me that long to figure out Blue Moon was not craft, and I didn't sue anybody. Or is it simply an instance of exercising our freedom to sue sue sue in America to pay the bills? Certainly I could see the class action prevailing with another judge or a rewrite of the arguments.
In the previous story you'll note that the definition of the size of a "craft brewery" has been expanded a couple of times, allowing Sam Adams to remain a "craft brewer". Their 2014 production was 4.1 million barrels according to Wikipedia. The definition is now set at 6 million. I don't buy too much Sam Adams, but not because of their size. I just think their range of beers tastes mediocre compared to the #2 and #3 biggest craft breweries, Sierra Nevada and New Belgium. New Belgium in particular seems like it could grow to Sam Adams' size one day. I recommend New Belgium Snapshot.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 28 2015, @04:01PM
> describes himself as a "beer aficionado," ...
> He stopped buying it because he is a "beer aficionado"
Are you a fucking retard? You are conflating "descibing yourself as something" and "stopping [doing something] because of something".
I describe myself as Anonymous Coward. That doesn't mean I don't eat tortured baby cow (i.e. veal) because I'm an anonymous coward.
> He stopped [...] when he discovered it is made by MillerCoors LLC
He choses to not support manipulative oligopolistic multinationals. That makes him someone who exercises freedom of choice in the marketplace. Why do you not like people exercising their freedoms?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by vux984 on Wednesday October 28 2015, @04:44PM
He stopped buying it because he is a "beer aficionado" and he found out Blue Moon was made by MillerCoors.
That could be read as "beer-snob". Or it could be read as "he likes to support microbreweries and craft beers" in the same way that I like to support small local businesses. IF I found out my favorite farm market was really just a front for Walmart, I'd shop somewhere else. Not because I'm a 'snob' but because I don't like Walmart, and shopping there isn't acheiving my goal of supporting small local businesses.
To be fair, I've never heard of Blue Moon, and now I'm unlikely to buy it now because I agree with him that pretending it's something its not shouldn't be rewarded; and will probably look unfavorably on the rest of the MillerCoors brand as a result now too. In looking around at this story, I learned that Shock Top is also essentially the same thing (but from Anheuser-Busch). I have ordered shock top before; I liked it well enough, but I might pick something else going forward; since its not what I was led to believe it was.