This may be the very label for which the “speaks for itself” tag was invented.

We are proud to announce that Margie A.S. Lehrman of our firm has been selected as Executive Director of The American Craft Spirits Association. The current plan is that Margie will continue to work on select beverage licensing matters, on the local level in DC, Maryland and Virginia, to the extent her ACSA schedule allows. Of course we will build in protections against any conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest, and we do not expect Margie to be involved in any matters adverse to any spirits companies.

In many ways, her new position is the result of a divine coincidence. A few months back I went to the ACSA convention in Austin, Texas. I asked Margie to come along, as a spouse, because I thought the drinking, dining and music would be a lot more fun with a spouse along. Midway through the convention, Nicole Austin announced that ACSA was on the lookout for an E.D. to replace Penn Jensen. As a joke, I told Margie I was going to nominate her. When Nicole finished her speech, I made a beeline for Tito and the other powers that be within the association. I said Margie would be perfect, due to her 20 years of high level trade association experience, and her many years...

If you are looking for a great brand name for your new beer, it’s probably taken, as Dan Christopherson explains in today’s Washington City Paper.

The proliferation of breweries and the pressure for them to continuously turn out new styles of beers has created a trademark minefield for names. “Once you come up with an idea, then there’s just this fear that someone else beat you to it,” [Patrick] Mullane says. “Beer names are completely off the wall because there’s just so many of them out there.”

Most breweries will head to sites like ratebeer.com, beeradvocate.com, or Google to get an idea of whether something is already taken. Port City Brewing Company always goes the step further of having its lawyer look into potential names—although not every brewery does this. “You really have to have a more in-depth search that’s done by a professional, someone who knows what they’re doing as far as these trademark searches go,” founder Bill Butcher says. “It’s not something a layman can do an effective job at.”

In 1985, only 188 beer trademark applications were filed in the U.S. Last year, there were more than 4,600. And this year, the number is on track to surpass that, says beer attorney Dan Christopherson, who works for Lehrman Beverage Law in...

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...