You might know this, but not every beer that claims to be brewed somewhere is. We recently informed you that your Kona Brewing can is most likely not brewed in Hawaii. The trend of misleading geographical locations continues with Red Stripe. A class action lawsuit has been filed claiming the company, who is owned by Diageo and one of the largest producers in the world, misleads consumers into believing it’s beer is brewed in Jamaica, when it isn’t. In 2012, Red Stripe moved production from Jamaica to Pennsylvania. The suit says the red stripe on the label is the misleading element of branding.
Craft beer drinkers are really putting company’s claims to the test. A man in San Diego claims he was mislead into believing that Blue Moon was a craft beer, when instead (AS WE ALL KNOW!) it is brewed by one of the largest beer producers in the world, Miller Coors.
It seems this is another story in a long line of stories where marketing and branding are competing for attention of beer drinkers, as opposed to the beer itself.