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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: 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?