whisky

The plaintiff in a would-be class action lawsuit against Sazerac voluntarily dismissed all his claims in late January, ending the litigation. The case (Parker v. Buffalo Trace Distillery, Inc. et al.) began in November of last year, and concerned a subtle change on the label of Sazerac’s “Old Charter” brand of bourbon whiskey. The older and newer labels are above, side by side.

Among the various changes, the old label says, “AGED 8 YEARS,” while the new label simply displays the number “8.”

Plaintiff Nicholas Parker alleged that the Old Charter bourbon sold under the new label was no longer aged for 8 years, and that Sazerac’s continued use of the number “8” on the label caused consumers to believe that the bourbon was aged for 8 years. Sazerac responded with a motion to dismiss the complaint, alleging that Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) approval of the label provided Sazerac with a “safe harbor” from Mr. Parker’s claims.

Just two weeks after Sazerac filed its motion to dismiss, Mr. Parker voluntarily dismissed the action. This voluntary dismissal meant that the court did not have to rule on the merits of Sazerac’s safe harbor defense, or Mr. Parker’s claims. If the Tito’s “Handmade” Vodka cases are any indication, it is likely that the safe harbor defense would not...

At USBevX a few days ago I heard lots of questions about various wines aged in Bourbon barrels. But I did not hear lots of answers so I thought I would take a look and see what’s going on. This Fetzer example, above, seems like a good place to start.

It tends to show that it is okay to mention Bourbon on a vintage- and varietal-designated wine. I am a little surprised I don’t see any reference to a formula approval, or to the amount of aging in said barrel. This Fetzer label is also noteworthy because it quickly drew the ire of the big Buffalo, as in Buffalo Trace; Sazerac charged at Fetzer for attempting to graze on land staked out long ago by the whiskey company. This really good article discusses the trademark dispute, about 1/3 of the way down the page.

I see about 64 wine labels with reference to Bourbon as approved by TTB during the past five years. Another representative one, from another big company, is this Robert Mondavi approval. I don’t really see any comparable labels, in the prior five year period. From these two examples, and a bit of asking around, it sounds like the reference to Bourbon should not appear on the same...

Those three little words, above (CRAFTED BY HAND), are causing a ruckus for Angel’s Envy Rye, in Judge Aspen’s court in Chicago.

In the great whiskey wars commencing in 2014, Maker’s Mark had a great day, here, in May. By contrast, Angel’s Envy had a much less propitious day early this week. A federal judge in Illinois dismissed a small part of the class action fraud case against Angel’s Envy, but let big parts go forward. My friends at the Locke Lord law firm, who recently and successfully wrapped up the similar case, against Templeton, explained:

The decision to allow the Angel’s Envy case to proceed past a motion to dismiss is consistent with similar decisions in the cases against Tito’s Handmade Vodka and WhistlePig Rye Whiskey, and signals that the courts are willing to consider consumer-fraud claims against spirits companies that supposedly sell unattributed mass-distilled products while holding themselves out to the market as smaller scale, craft brands. As a result of these rulings, the case will proceed into discovery, which has the potential to be lengthy and expensive.

In my view, the most interesting parts of the 17 page opinion and order are as follows.

1. The potential damages may exceed $5 million, as the brand but not...