A San Diego man is taking his love of craft beer to court by suing macrobrewer MillerCoors for falsely advertising one of its products, the belgian wheat beer Blue Moon.
Evan Parent said in court documents that he bought Blue Moon in 2011 and 2012 thinking it was a craft beer, before realizing it’s made by MillerCoors, the second largest beer company in the world.
"Relying on its advertising, its placement among other craft beers, and the premium price it commanded, (Parent), who is also a beer aficionado and home brewer, purchased Blue Moon believing it was a craft beer, as the term is commonly used by beer consumers and the Brewers Association," the lawsuit states.
Parent points out Blue Moon's labels and website do not mention MillerCoors in any way. Instead, its label bears the name Blue Moon Brewing Company and advertises the beer is “artfully crafted.”
"I was a little ticked off and felt like I’d been sold crafty marketing rather than craft beer and I knew a lot of other people would feel the same way as me," he said.
Jim Treglio, Parent's lawyer, said Blue Moon Brewing Company is not its own business, but instead is part of Coors.
"They’ve created this entity to hide who they are," he said. "They’re doing that one, to get people to purchase Blue Moon, and secondly to get people to purchase Blue Moon at a premium."
Blue Moon is more expensive than other Coors beers. So Parent has filed a class action lawsuit that he hopes will bring reimbursements to anyone else who bought Blue Moon thinking it was a craft beer. He also wants to make sure the beer is labeled properly in the future.
In an emailed response, MillerCoors said it is tremendously proud of Blue Moon and "has always embraced our ownership and support of this wonderful brand. The class action filed against MillerCoors in California is without merit and contradicted by Blue Moon Brewing Company’s 20-year history of brewing creative beers of the highest quality."
Treglio said there have been similar cases against beer makers Kirin and Becks for "giving the impression that the beers were imported when they were actually made in the United States."
The Kirin suit was settled, with Kirin owner Anheuser-Busch agreeing to pay anyone who bought the beer thinking it was made in Japan up to $50.
