I have first hand experience with this kind of nonsense and was in the right but didn’t have the resources to fight it.  I am very happy to say that Rock Art Brewery is fighting it as much as they can.  Who knows if they will prevail, really tough to defend yourself (even when you are right) in a case like this when the company going after you makes over a Billion $ a year.

The wonderful thing about the Internet is that it can act as an equalizer.  It’s tough to equalize yourself against a Billion dollar corporation but people are blogging about the Monster Boycott, Tweeting about it, posting video’s to YouTube about it and calling Hansen directly to express their outrage.

There are a lot of things that you can do if you want to help this small brewery.  You can:

• Contact Hansen Beverages and express your outrage
• Blog about it if you have a blog
• Tweet about it if you use Twitter
• Join the Facebook Group Vermonters and Craft Beer Drinkers Against Monster
• Stop buying Monster Energy drinks
• Spread the word to people you know
• Support Rock Art Brewery by buying their beer or going to their web site and buying some of their merchandise if their beer isn’t available in your area

Here is a video from the owner of Rock Art Brewery about this situation.

Here are some places where you can get more information on this whole ordeal:

• Rock Art Brewery
• Consumerist Article
• Associated Press Article
• Beer Advocate Discussion

Matt Nadeau, owner of Rock Art Brewery, is flustered and confused.  He spoke with several lawfirms and they all told him that they didn’t think Hansen had a case but they have deep pockets.  I have been on the receiving end of nonsense like this and I know how frustrating it is.  Unfortunately, the issue goes from what it should be (who is right and who is wrong) to who has the most money.  If Rock Art Brewery fights with Hansen Beverage over the supposed similarity and they win, they could be in for years of expensive appeals and huge legal bills.  They would be bills that Rock Art Brewery may not be able to handle but would be a minor expense to a large corporation like Hansen Beverages.

I understand that companies that have a trademark are obligated to protect it but it’s a shame that our system allows companies to take advantage of that obligation and push smaller companies around with their big pockets.

You can read the original article I read at Vermont’s Rutland Herald.

According to the Brewers Association (the trade organization that represents most breweries in the US), growth of the craft beer industry is up 5% by volume and 9% by dollars.  That means that not only are we buying more craft beer than we did last year, we are spending more money on that beer.   In 2008, craft brewers sold 4 Million barrels of beer.  In 2009, craft brewers sold 4.2 Million barrels.  What makes these numbers even more impressive is that overall, beer sales in the US are down 1.3% and imported beer is down 9.5% for the same period of time.

Below is a chart from the Brewers Association showing the growth of the beer industry in the last 100 years.

The entire building was shuttered until the building owner could bring it up to code and pass an inspection that it was safe to be occupied. It was a horrible tragedy and I think the city did the right thing, I just hope that Monk’s is able to re-open in a timely manner. Monks is a staple of the Philadelphia Beer Scene.

A report in the Philadelphia Examiner today says that they could re-open as early as today but that is probably over-optimistic. You can read the article by clicking here