When John Bryant, founder and owner of No-Li Brewhouse in Spokane, Wash., was congratulated by a friend for getting his flagship beer, Born & Raised IPA, into Wrigley Field, he paused.
But we’re not in Wrigley Field, he thought. We don’t even sell beer in Chicago.
Bryant checked the popular beer app Untappd and sure enough, there was his beer being reviewed from the stands at Wrigley: “Ivy H. is drinking a Born & Raised by No-Li Brewhouse at Wrigley Field,” replete with a photo of a manicured hand holding a plastic cup along the third base line.
Only problem? It wasn’t his beer.
Rather than Born & Raised IPA — a beer born and raised in Spokane since 2012 and about 40 percent of No-Li’s production — it was Born + Raised, a beer born, raised and released last month by Goose Island Beer Co. in Chicago.
As a longtime craft beer industry executive with previous stops at Oskar Blues, Odell and Deschutes breweries, Bryant was able to connect with bosses at Goose Island and its parent company, Anheuser-Busch.
However, his hope for a speedy resolution — and for Chicago’s oldest brewery to move on from the “Born and Raised” name by the end of the summer — appears to be dashed as Goose Island said it remains committed to a brand in which it sees plenty at stake.
Bryant said he’s hardly spoiling for a fight with Goose Island or deep-pocketed Anheuser-Busch. It’s something his brewery can’t afford, even as additional reviews have sprouted from Wrigley Field, as well as Guaranteed Rate Field and at least one suburban bar.
“I don’t think we should have to give Anheuser-Busch a brand that’s established since 2012,” he said. “I’m a little guy in Spokane, Wash. It’s a bit daunting to think we’d take on Goliath.”
For the moment, the sides appear to be engaged in a standoff, with Goose Island confident it has a right to the name.
“We did our homework,” Goose Island President Todd Ahsmann said.
Bryant, meanwhile, believes he has “a solid trademark” while trying to avoid the involvement of lawyers.
“They have the lawyers and the clout,” Bryant said. “We’re a small family owned business.”
Such naming dust-ups have become increasingly common in a craft beer industry that has grown from fewer than 1,500 breweries a decade ago to more than 7,500 today. Syracuse-based lawyer Brendan Palfreyman, who specializes in beer-related intellectual property, said he comes across another example almost daily.
“The things we hear about publicly are the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “Under the water, there’s the whole rest of the iceberg, where brewery owners are working things out offline or attorneys are working them out.”
Trademark issues in the craft beer industry “took off in the last four or five years, ramping up from there,” Palfreyman said. The industry has become more crowded, but breweries have also become more sophisticated, “engaging counsel and being more serious about protecting their rights,” he said.
A legendary example of craft beer camaraderie happened in 2007, when two well-regarded breweries, Avery of Boulder, Colo., and Russian River of Northern California, teamed up after both had made beers called “Salvation.” They created a beer called “Collaboration Not Litigation” — a blend of the two Salvations.
It’s a quaint notion all these years later, though Bryant was hoping for a similar outcome — “a good story where we come together on it.”
“Hell, I’d fly out there and have a Goose Island with them,” he said.
Informal agreements had previously worked for Bryant when it came to Born & Raised. It was in fact how he was able to use the name in the first place. No-Li applied for a federal trademark on Born & Raised IPA in 2012, but was opposed by a chain of Las Vegas bars, also called Born and Raised, that had already secured rights to the name in the alcohol and beverage category.
No-Li could have fought for the trademark, but Bryant said he worked out a deal for what he described as a “first-use” right to the name.
“It was a lot of money we didn’t have as a small company,” Bryant said. “We thought the more peaceful resolution was to just strike a compromise.”
When East End Brewing in Pittsburgh and Dock Street Brewery in Philadelphia made beers called Born and Raised, Bryant said, he reached out to strike handshake agreements. Both agreed to run though their beers and then surrender the name.
Bryant wanted a similar resolution with Goose Island. No such luck. Ahsmann said the brewery researched the name before investing in Born + Raised, a beer intended to become a core piece of the brewery’s identity.
Goose Island describes the beer as a “Chicago-style ale” that’s “brewed for our hometown.” It is available only on draft and in Chicago, and with a bold push behind it, which has included hiring a local artist to create 100 unique Born + Raised tap handles for various bars.
Born + Raised is a piece of a broader strategy for Goose Island to re-establish itself in its home market after recent struggles and sales declines.
Among its misfires was growing Green Line Pale Ale, a beer also once available only in Chicago and on draft, but which was scaled up at Anheuser-Busch breweries in 2016 and distributed nationally. What was a Chicago sensation suffered a double whammy: Green Line performed poorly on the big stage and lost share locally. Born + Raised is intended to help repair that damage.
Bryant and Ahsmann talked a couple of weeks ago, “after we’d invested heavily in the beer,” Ahsmann said. He was aware of No-Li’s brand, but because the brewery didn’t have a federal trademark on the name, Ahsmann figured he was clear to pursue Born + Raised.
Bryant argues his “first use” trademark agreement protects his right to the name, as does Born & Raised IPA’s presence in craft beer since 2012. No-Li beer has been sold in as many as 17 states, though never in Illinois; in recent years, the brewery scaled back distribution to Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska, plus some international sales.
Born & Raised IPA has also been advertised nationally, Bryant said, and won a silver medal at the World Beer Cup in 2018.
Goose Island beer is sold in all 50 states and internationally as a lead craft brand for Anheuser-Busch. But Ahsmann said Born + Raised will “never, ever leave Chicago” as long as he’s running the brewery — though it could possibly be canned at some point.
Bryant noted that Green Line was also a Chicago-only beer — and that Goose Island had made similar claims about other beers that were also eventually scaled up. Ahsmann, however, remained adamant: “It’s a Chicago-only beer.”
Bryant said he’s still hoping for a favorable outcome, calling Born & Raised IPA “our soul.”
“There’s clearly customer confusion on Untappd,” Bryant said of the app. “Plus their rating is lower than ours, which I don’t really care for.”
Born & Raised IPA’s Untappd rating is 3.67 bottle caps (out of 5) as of this writing; Goose Island Born + Raised’s is 3.5 bottle caps.
Eat. Watch. Do.
Ahsmann said he isn’t worried about customer confusion: “I have full confidence our social media team will do a really good job of letting people know which beer to check in under.”
But without a federal trademark, Palfreyman said, No-Li’s recourse may be limited, at least in Chicago. It could conceivably have common law rights to the name in places where the beer is already sold, he said.
That means Goose Island may have established rights to the name in Chicago. But Ahsmann said he wouldn’t oppose No-Li from expanding distribution here.
“If he came to Chicago, I would not pursue any action against him,” Ahsmann said. “It wouldn’t be the right thing to do.”
Twitter @hopnotes
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