Twin Cities craft brewer runs afoul of Hollywood, makes beer 'Unrated'
It's a story whose summary you can practically hear being narrated (ironically, of course) by a deep-voiced movie announcer guy:
"In a world where clever craft brew labels are the subject of legal challenges over copyright infringement, one Minneapolis company must change the name of its top-selling beer... to escape the wrath of a powerful Hollywood organization."
All it needs is a "coming this summer" and it's a guaranteed blockbuster. Unfortunately for 612Brew in Northeast Minneapolis, it was a real-life business setback.
Their flagship brew, Rated R, is no more – at least not with that name. It turns out it violated a trademark belonging to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), according to the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal.
The newspaper explains that the organization, which came up with and enforces the movie ratings system (you may be familiar with their other works, the ever-famous "G," "PG," and "PG-13"), sent 612Brew a cease-and-desist letter after the company tried to trademark the name of the popular beer.
The new name is simply "Unrated."
612Brew founder Robert Kasak told the Business Journal the source of the trouble was the word "Rated," which the MPAA had already claimed as its own.
The change was effective Jan. 1, but the brewery's Twitter page indicates Rated R has been on sale throughout the month at events and happy hours around town.
Speaking of Twitter, many of the brewery's fans are sharing their reactions to the news; some are surprised, some are hostile, and one or two others had comments we aren't comfortable repeating.
One creative tweet offered another solution it's probably too late for 612 to consider:
