American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
Things are certainly heating up in the world of craft beer what with big craft breweries slowing, and the shocking news of a trademark dispute between an American and a Canadian brewery involving the use of the word “moose” in their branding.
Don’t Take Your Brewery’s Moose Name For Granite (Troy, NH) – New Hampshire-based Mooselick Brewery is no more. They’ve chosen to rename themselves Granite Roots Brewing – for fear of damaging American and Canadian brewing relations over who controls the word “moose.”
Canada’s Moosehead Breweries LTD (St John, New Brunswick) contacted the then Mooselick Brewery late in 2016 and informed them that they viewed Mooselick’s use of the word “moose” in their branding to be potentially libelous trademark Infringement. Moosehead also had a problem with Mooselick’s use of a moose in their imaging but that was the least of the small Troy, New Hampshire brewery’s problems.
A David vs Goliath Situation – To avoid a consequential international meltdown with a Canadian” major” whose beer is widely distributed in the US, Mooselick reportedly changed its name to Granite Roots thus diffusing a potentially disastrous international brewing conflict with a neighbor to the north.
Words To Drink By (Washington, DC) – “Beer has always been my drug of choice…I’ve been drinking it ever since I was nine.” Tom Bobak – American Craft Beer
Big Craft Breweries Ups & Downs (USA) – Lagunitas Brewing is reportedly weathering craft beer’s slowdown better than of their similarly sized brethren. According to a recent survey of retail outlets by Chicago-based market research firm IRI Lagunitas sales were up 20% last year. Unfortunately during that same period, Boston Beer was down 9% and Sierra Nevada was down more than 5%. We expect 2017 to continue to be a rocky year of many of these larger craft breweries.
Get Schooled By Sun King (Indianapolis, IN) – Indiana- based Sun King Brewing has been offering a beer education series to help their many fans learn more about what they’re drinking and the art behind brewing serious craft beer. Sun King’s After School Special: Sensory Panel Training is the next installment in this smart and enjoyable series where fans will be “schooled” on to how correctly evaluate beers (and detect possible defects) like a pro! This April 28th event is limited to only 20 participants so act now if you’re interested!
