Watch the video. I’ll wait.
…
Now I know there are a lot of people out there that will immediately lump in all lawyers into the bucket of “bloodsucking assholes,” but as someone who works at a law firm coordinating lawyers that volunteer thousands of hours of legal time every year, not all lawyers are assholes. Okay?
But please, go out there, support Rock Art Brewery if you’re in their distribution area. Follow them on Twitter (and spread the word with #ISupportRockArt and #BoycottMonster) and Facebook. Post your own support where you can (as my friend Justin did on his own blog; also a great article regarding the trademark “issue” here). Encourage people to not buy any products that Hansen produces. Fuck Hansen and their big business bullying tactics. I hate bullies.
For those of you who don’t live in the Rock Art distribution area, go out there and support your own local breweries and keep those dollars out of the hands of these bloodsucking, big business beverage companies. Me? I’m going to support Schells, Summit and other local breweries and brew pubs. I wish I liked Surly’s beers, but they’re too hoppy for my taste, but I know friends of mine (I’m looking at you, Chris and Sarah!) love their stuff. So please, go out there and support your local brews no matter where they are! Plus, you get to enjoy some tasty beer at the same time.
If there ever was a story about the underdog, this is it.
Okay, enough of my personal, beer-fueled soapbox. What do you think?
October 16, 2009 at 12:06 pm
I wish I could represent this guy! Watch the documentary “Beer Wars” to see what Anheuser-Busch is doing to small and local breweries all over the country. They make an inferior product so they resort to shady legal manuvering to try to keep market share. I will never brink another Anheuser-Busch product after watching this, and I have to admit that I was shocked to see what that encompasses.
October 16, 2009 at 12:47 pm
I added it to my Netflix queue…it looks like it’s not out yet. But I’m quite interested!
I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some beer-loving attorney in Vermont who would take this guy’s case on pro bono. Just makes me so damn angry.
October 17, 2009 at 12:50 am
Doesn’t that just blow? I wish I knew more about that area of law, because I would definitely volunteer to help out! I wrote a letter to Hansen’s and tweeted about it, so I suppose that’s about all I can do for now. If he does end up having to defend against a lawsuit, maybe there’ll be a Paypal donation page or something.
I knew nothing about Schells or Surly until this year! Schells was the beer for the beer weekend tasting thing at the Ren Fest, and I was surprised at how many I liked. And I really like Surly Cynic, which makes me delighted (both because of the beer and because of the name!). And of course, love the Leinie’s. Wooooo, local beer!
October 17, 2009 at 1:41 am
Oh, also, this is a fun resource: http://mnbeer.com
October 17, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Ooo…MN beer! Bookmarked!
Hm…the Cynic is new to me…and doesn’t seem as angry as Furious was to drink (seriously, that beer fought its way down my throat!). I might have to try it! Schell’s is good stuff. I’m excited to try this year’s Snow Storm (they make a different beer every winter).
With the amount of publicity the Rock Art story is getting, I’m hoping Hansen will cave under the bad PR pressure. Especially since they don’t seem to have a legal leg to stand on, trademark-wise.
October 17, 2009 at 3:23 pm
I first got Cynic at a bar when they brought me skunky Blue Moon. I asked what else they had that was close, but not skunky. It’s not a wheat beer, but it tastes similar.