Craft Brewers Are Running Out Of Names, and Into Legal Spats
“A frequently recurring issue…is different breweries thinking they’ve coined the same hopcentric puns and catchphrases for their beers. A quick Google search reveals multiple beers named "Hopscotch,” and at least three India Pale Ales with the name “Bitter End”…when the brewers at Avery in Colorado andRussian River in California discovered that they each had a beer named Salvation, they met at an annual Colorado beer festival to talk it out. Vinnie Cilurzo, co-owner and brewmaster of Russian River Brewing Co., says that neither he nor Adam Avery knew who had coined the name. Nor were they particularly worried about it. Still, they took the opportunity to come to a clever compromise. They combined their beers in a blend and named it Collaboration Not Litigation.“