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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: 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.
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