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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: 2, Interesting) by WillAdams on Wednesday October 28 2015, @02:48PM

    by WillAdams (1424) on Wednesday October 28 2015, @02:48PM (#255605)

    There needs to be an app which allows one to scan a product's barcode and then see:

      - which conglomerate owns the company which made it
      - where the product was made
      - whether it was made w/ union labour or no
      - where the materials were sourced and whether or no this was done in an environmentally safe fashion
      - what the pay slope is for the company which made it

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Interesting=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 28 2015, @02:55PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 28 2015, @02:55PM (#255608)

    And sends info on you to Google so you are put on their List for
    deportation to the re-education camps.

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by FatPhil on Wednesday October 28 2015, @05:37PM

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Wednesday October 28 2015, @05:37PM (#255710) Homepage
    Ratebeer easily the best (in terms of accuracy) database in the world. Untappd may list more beers listed, but the accuracy is so pitifully low it doesn't reach the level that you would need (I just checked one not-a-brewery which sells 3 rebadged macro beers, and untapped lists *8* beers for it, including 5 rebadged imported beers from a *completely unrelated* but similarly named dodgy rebadge non-brewery, which confirms my view that untappd is basically bullshit).

    The ratebeer page for the Blue Moon in question, http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/blue-moon-belgian-white-ale/2228/ says:
    """
    Blue Moon Belgian White Ale
    Brewed by Coors Brewing Company (MillerCoors)
    """
    There are apps for several different platforms which connect to the same database as the webpage above, and thus will provide the same info.

    Disclosure: I use, and contribute lots of researched data to, ratebeer, but no money or favours pass either way between us.
    --
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