Brewscape: The Latest Craft Beer Brand News

Jim McGreevy to Join Coca-Cola PACS Following Beer Institute Departure

The next chapter for Jim McGreevy, the outgoing president and CEO of the Beer Institute (BI), will be at the Coca-Cola Company’s North America Political Action Committees (PACS), as VP of public policy, federal government relations and political engagement (PPGR).

McGreevy announced in mid-April that he would be departing the BI in May after eight years of leading the trade group. His first day at Coca-Cola will be May 16.

In his new role, McGreevy will “lead the company’s strategic engagement on public policies,” including “environmental policy, health, nutrition and ingredients to social policy, human rights and beyond,” Joanna Price, chief of publics affairs, communications and sustainability for Coca-Cola’s North American unit, wrote in an internal memo.

Additionally, McGreevy and his team will be responsible for the development of Coca-Cola’s “FOR” policy work, which will “engage with government, trade associations and NGO stakeholders,” on topics including: environment; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); health and wellness; and international trade. He will also help “protect the Coca-Cola system’s reputation across federal, state and local government and NGO stakeholder groups,” Price wrote.

“A new challenge is always great,” McGreevy told Brewbound. “And it’s an industry I know well and can bring value to in a different kind of role at a company as opposed to trade association.

“I’m sad to leave the beer industry,” he continued. “There’s that old adage that your worst day in the beer business is better than your best day in any other business. I’m gonna go find out if that’s true.”

During his tenure at the BI, McGreevy successfully led an initiative to make federal excise tax relief for brewers and importers permanent via the 2020 Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act. The BI, under McGreevy’s leadership, also successfully lobbied to include brewers as essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and created the Brewers’ Voluntary Disclosure Initiative, providing “greater transparency to the consumer of the contents of beer.”

The BI will conduct a “comprehensive search” for McGreevy’s replacement, Gavvin Hattersley, the BI’s chairman and the president and CEO of Molson Coors, wrote in a member update.

Stone Seeks Added $284M in Trademark Infringement Case with Molson Coors

The Stone-Molson Coors trademark infringement legal saga continues to play out in a series of post-trial motions. Each side has filed motions, with Stone seeking additional damages on top of its $56 million jury award, and Molson Coors attempting to block Stone’s request for a preliminary injunction earlier in April.

The moves follow a jury siding with Stone in its trademark case against Molson Coors over its 2017 rebrand of Keystone Light, which separated the words “Key” and “Stone” on cans and packaging. However, jurors said Molson Coors did not willfully infringe upon Stone’s trademark.

On April 18, Stone’s attorney, J. Noah Hagey, filed a motion asking the court to order Molson Coors to “disgorge $116 million in profits attributable to the infringing ‘Own the Stone’ campaign,” as well as “award treble damages in the amount of $168 million” in addition to the $56 million jury award and an undisclosed amount of attorneys’ fees.

Hagey called the harm caused to Stone “very real,” adding that the jury award “while more than justified, does not adequately compensate Stone for the full extent of the injury it has suffered.” He continued that the verdict alone would allow Molson Coors “to enjoy hundreds of millions of dollars of benefit from a five-year campaign of infringement.” At trial, Stone sought a $216 million jury verdict.

“The rebrand caused a fundamental change in the trajectory of Stone’s business from which it has not recovered today and will likely never recover,” Hagey wrote. “Meanwhile, Stone’s valuation plummeted following the rebrand from $830 million to less than $475 million.

“The quantum of this harm far exceeds $168 million,” he continued. “The Court should award treble damages of $168 million as authorized by Section 1117(a) to fully compensate Stone for the harm caused by MillerCoors’s knowing infringement.”

During the trial, Stone’s attorneys argued that Molson Coors’ Keystone Light rebrand confused consumers and led to a 20% decline – or $174 million drop – in Stone’s business.

According to Stone’s filing, Molson Coors has sold more than 4 billion cans of the rebranded Keystone Light beer since April 2017, generating $1.7 billion in revenue and $764 million in profits.

Also on April 18, Daniel R. Lombard, an attorney for Molson Coors, filed a response to Stone’s request for a permanent injunction that would force Molson Coors to “immediately cease producing and distributing the infringing [Keystone Light] packaging,” and “withdraw all infringing packaging and advertising from the marketplace.”

Lombard called Stone’s request for a permanent injunction “overly broad and unenforceable” and “not warranted.”

Reyes Picks Up Bell’s Brewery Portfolio Within Its Indiana Territory

The Bell’s Brewery portfolio is moving to the Reyes Beer Division in the majority of the wholesaler’s Indiana territory.

Reyes, the largest beer distributor in the U.S., announced on April 18 that its Monarch Distributing subsidiary has closed on agreements for the Michigan craft brewery’s brand rights in its Indiana footprint, adding about 175,000 cases to Monarch’s operation.

It is unclear as of press time which wholesalers sold Bell’s distribution rights to Reyes. A Monarch, which Reyes acquired in 2020, operates warehouses in Indianapolis and Evansville and distributes beer to Marion, Hamilton, Hendricks and Tippecanoe counties.

At the time of Reyes’ Monarch acquisition, Bell’s portfolio was carved out of the transaction, as Bell’s founder Larry Bell was unwilling to sign off on Reyes distributing his offerings. By December 2020, Bell’s had reworked its distribution network in southern Indiana, going with 15 independent Anheuser-Busch wholesalers, while Indiana Beverage distributed Bell’s offerings in the northern half of the state.

However, the dynamic has changed following the sale of Bell’s to New Belgium parent company Lion Little World Beverages, as New Belgium CEO Steve Fechheimer explained in March when the two companies announced plans to consolidate their footprints in a number of markets.

“We have a long standing, strong and strategic partnership with our friends at New Belgium,” Reyes Beer Division CEO Tom Day said in a press release. “With New Belgium recently joining with Bell’s Brewery, we are excited to expand our offerings and live out our company’s purpose of connecting customers, consumers and brands every day, everywhere we operate.”

“Our Monarch team is eager to start warehousing, selling, delivering and merchandising this great portfolio,” Reyes Beer Division east president Stephen Reyes added. “With both companies having Midwest roots, we’re grateful for the opportunity to represent Bell’s in Indiana.”

Spirit-Based Truly Vodka Seltzer to Release in Summer

Boston Beer Company revealed its answer to E. & J. Gallo’s High Noon Sun Sips ahead of its earnings call in late April. Truly Vodka Seltzer, a vodka-based version of the sugar-based original that will be released “late this summer.”

Truly Vodka Seltzer (5% ABV, 110 calories, 2g sugar, 4g carbs) will be made with six-times distilled vodka and real fruit juice. The line extension will come in four flavor varieties: Cherry & Lime, Blackberry & Lemon, Peach & Tangerine, and Pineapple & Cranberry. Vodka Seltzer will be sold in 12 oz. slim can variety 8-packs, 8-packs of Cherry & Lime, and single-flavor 4-packs.

Truly Vodka Seltzer is in addition to the previously released Truly Flavored Vodka, a one-liter bottled vodka being produced and sold by Beam Suntory. Burwick called Truly Vodka Seltzer “a complementary companion” to the Truly line, which he said will attract a different consumer than the existing 21-to-34-year-old Truly drinkers — consumers in the 45-plus age range, female, African-American, with higher incomes.

“We see there is a window here and there is a place to go with Truly Vodka seltzer at the high end of hard seltzer with a different consumer,” Boston Beer CEO Dave Burwick said.

With its spirit-base leading to a higher tax rate, Truly Vodka Seltzer will be priced in line with products such as High Noon. Truly Hard Seltzer, which is sugar-based, falls under beer’s lower tax rate.

BrewDog Closes Indianapolis Taproom

BrewDog USA has permanently shuttered its Indianapolis-based taproom, a spokesperson confirmed in mid-April.

“[W]e made the tough decision to permanently close our Indianapolis bar,” the company said in a statement. “We are doing everything we can to ensure a smooth and fair transition for our Indy-based team members, including offering all team members full-time jobs at our other locations, a stipend for relocating, and helping facilitate future career moves.”

BrewDog explained that the closure “was a result of a combination of factors.”

“We exhausted all of our options prior to making the tough decision to permanently close,” a spokesperson said.

News of the closure was broken by beverage-alcohol industry journalist Dave Infante, who publishes the Fingers newsletter.

BrewDog opened the Indianapolis location, the Scottish craft beer maker’s first U.S. taproom outside of its homebase of Ohio, in September 2019.

Last year, the Indianapolis taproom terminated three women and one non-binary person. All four belonged to the LGBTQ community and were told they were being dismissed because the company “wanted a change in culture.” After an internal investigation, BrewDog USA also terminated the manager who approved the firing.

Earlier in April, BrewDog CEO James Watt wrote on LinkedIn that BrewDog is in the process of opening 27 taprooms in 2022, including Atlanta, Waterloo, Brisbane, Paris, Basingstoke, Las Vegas, Berlin, Hull, Cork with Ipswich, Lincoln, Durham and three in India.

Judge Grants Sycamore Brewing Injunction Against Stone’s Use of ‘Keep It Juicy’ Phrase

A federal judge in April granted a nationwide injunction to Charlotte’s Sycamore Brewing Company in its trademark infringement case against Stone Brewing Company. The preliminary injunction went into effect following Sycamore posting a $50,000 cash bond.

Sycamore Brewing filed a federal trademark infringement lawsuit against Stone on April 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. In the suit, Sycamore contended that Stone infringed upon its tagline trademark “Keep It Juicy” — which Sycamore registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in August 2021 and uses on packages of Juiciness IPA — on packages of the California craft brewery’s Hazy IPA.

During an April hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Frank Whitney ruled in Sycamore’s favor and rejected Stone’s argument that the description “juicy” and the phrase “keep it juicy” are interchangeable terms.

In his order, Whitney wrote that Stone and its affiliated parties are “immediately enjoined nationwide from using the Keep It Juicy name and mark, or confusingly similar variations thereof.” Whitney added that Stone can sell through its existing supply of Hazy IPA “packaged in the infringing box” so long as the brewery covers the infringing language with an opaque label or “a new, non-infringing phrase or slogan.”

According to Whitney’s ruling, Sycamore “has shown a likelihood of success on the merits of its claims for (1) Trademark Infringement … (2) Unfair Competition … and (3) Deceptive Trade practices …” and Stone’s attorney’s failed to “rebut the presumption of the validity and ownership” of “Keep It Juicy” by Sycamore.

“The mark is distinctive in the craft beer context,” Whitney wrote. “The similarity of the marks is astounding, and the goods are not just similar, they are the same — a craft India Pale Ale.

“In some retail locations, the two products are placed beside or above/below one another,” he continued. “Accordingly, the proximity of products as sold is again staggering. Moreover, the mark has been placed, as a prominent part of the packaging, on both Juiciness IPA and Hazy IPA’s retail boxes.”

A trial in the case is expected later this year.