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posted by takyon on Wednesday October 28 2015, @10:30AM   Printer-friendly
from the blue-loon dept.

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"

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 28 2015, @02:07PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 28 2015, @02:07PM (#255586)

    I feel like you are attacking the guy in the summary because you skipped the bottom part. The relevant part I think is this:

    according to Parent who says the company charges "up to 50 percent more for Blue moon"

    So, he stopped buying it because the people in charge of making it MillerCoors were able to make it for the same price as Coors due to their economies of scale, but cashed in on the Craft Beer movement to charge the same prices.

    I think it is a reasonable thing to stop supporting a company that is gouging you because they can, versus paying more for a Craft Brew because they don't have same said economies of scale.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 28 2015, @03:28PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 28 2015, @03:28PM (#255624)

    I didn't skip the bottom part; it's just not relevant. If craft brewing costs more and also produces a better beer (one that tastes better) and you think the better taste is worth the money, by all means buy it. If craft brewing costs more and fails to produce a better beer, why buy it? Pity? Suppose a craft brewer and a mainstream brewer produce the exact same beer -- a chemist couldn't tell them apart. If the mainstream brewer uses a different process that is cheaper, but not worse in some peripheral way you might care about (like harming the environment), why would you be willing to pay more for the craft brewed version when you are getting the exact same beer? By your reasoning, companies that invest in finding more efficient ways of making a product should receive no benefit from doing so (no increase in profit, since that would be "gouging").

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 05 2015, @12:36AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 05 2015, @12:36AM (#258592)

      That just isn't true. It IS relevant. The 6 million barrel limit that separates "CRAFT" from "Commercial". There is an implicit understanding that they are not at the same scale as a commercial brewer and therefore CANNOT make it as cheap as a commercial brewer can. You seeing the "CRAFT" label understand this.

      The last statement of yours that says:

      companies that invest in finding more efficient ways of making a product should receive no benefit from doing so

      I don't agree with this, this is part of the "Buy Local" idea isn't it?

      If you want to have a craft brewer make a $5 bottle of beer that costs him $4 and slap a CRAFT label on it and a commercial brewer make a $5 bottle of beer that costs him $1 dollar and he puts a CRAFT label on it, he is violating the PRINCIPALS (not laws?) of CRAFT brewing. If both bottles taste exactly the same I'm going to pick the real craft brewer if I know the difference between the companies.

      It starts to be a breakdown after that about how much cheaper and if it says CRAFT or Commercial and how principled I (the buyer) wants to be.