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Don't judge a beer by the label

Many arguments have been settled over a beer.

It has caused more than a few, too. But there seems to be a lot of verbal and legal jousting lately before any of the wonderful nectar has touched the lips.

It all gets down to labelling. What is essentially designed to advise punters what beer they are consuming has become a hot property.

Late last year reports in the US indicated brewers were running out of names. National Public Radio’s Alastair Bland wrote that the boom in craft breweries meant there was pressure on the puns so favoured by beer makers in their titles.

Some have unwittingly created a clash and that has seen plenty of attorneys making beer money as they defend client’s intellectual property.

Bland discovered three India Pale Ales with the name, “Bitter End”.

However, he also found two breweries that came to a commonsense resolution over the coincidence.

“When the brewers at Avery in Colorado and Russian River in California discovered that they each had a beer named Salvation, they met at an annual Colorado beer festival to talk it out,” Bland wrote.

“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.”

Not so Lagunitas, who got their silks to send some threatening letters to Sierra Nevada earlier this year over a beer that hadn’t yet been released.

The issue was the label for Sierra Nevada’s Hop Hunter IPA. It wasn’t that Lagunitas had a similar moniker. It was all to do with the look of the tag.

Lagunitas claimed the style of wording was similar to their IPA trademark, even pointing at the typeface and the “slightly aged or weathered look”. The case was eventually dropped.

Closer to home 4 Pines subsidiary Brookvale Union had a battle on its hands with their ginger beer label.

Images of the Hindu gods Lakshmi and Ganesh were on the bottles and it outraged parts of the Indian community. Brookvale Union agreed to make a few changes.

Using the Ganesh also caused a major issue for Lost Coast Brewery in the US. One Hindu worshipper was so outraged he initially sought $1 billion to compensate the faith worldwide for the distress.

There was even some light banter when Feral launched their Cat IPA. Down the Swan Valley road Mash had enjoyed success with their Copy Cat American IPA. But then Mash had a bit of fun with their branding because they were reluctant to "copy' other brewers who had produced similar beers. And so the merry-go-round continues.

However, at last it has been done in good spirits.

Yet it proves coming up with a name, an eye-catching on-beer display and an image for their products has become as difficult for brewers as making the drinks.