Billion dollar Energy Drink company uses deep pockets to go after Vermont microbrewery.
A buzz around the American craft beer community has revealed an ugly truth stemming from the pits of corporate America. We heard about it on the social networking site Facebook where several friends and 
brewers have reacted. Morrisville, Vermont’s Rock Art Brewery has been issued a cease and desist order from Monster Energy Drink. Monster, who would appear is living up to its name, is marketed and distributed by Hansen Natural Corporation, a NASDAQ listed company of Corona, California. Hansen Natural Corporation recently announced a distribution agreement with Anheuser-Busch in the United States. The letter from the corporate team at Monster claims there is confusion generated by the Rock Art’s seasonal barley wine named “Vermonster” created a couple years back to celebrate their tenth anniversary.
Rock Art began as a two person operation twelve years ago by 
husband and wife team Matt and Renee Nadeau. Today, the business remains a modest microbrewery operation that employs seven people and distributes to five states outside of Vermont. On the other hand, Hansen Natural who owns the Monster energy drink is a publicly traded company with a reported gross sales for the second quarter of 2009 of $345.8 million, up 6.7% from $324.1 million in the same period last year. According to reports, Monster sold a cool $1 billion worth of the energy drink last year.
Not only does the multi-million dollar Monster mega corporation want the mom and pop outfit Rock Art to stop using the word “Vermonster,” but they also expect the brewery to compensate it for its attorneys’ fees. This is all at the hands of the Goliath energy drink’s lawyers.
If you’d like to contact Hansen’s Energy to voice your concern for Rock Art, email them at http://www.hansens.com/contact/
Prost!
Posted under beer news
This post was written by Angelo on October 17, 2009
WOW! How terrible! And pay legal fees! I can’t even write a response to this.
Do they bottle the Vermonster? Get yours while you still can.
What is Monster banking on, their copyright of the name monster?
I could understand maybe if the font looked identical but it’s nowhere even close to similar.
If not for Anheuser it would appear to be a cash grab settle out of court attempt. But with their market share being picked at and their recent efforts to appeal to those interested in different styles of beer (Anyone fancy a Bud Golden Wheat? *shudders*)this is a warning shot of more to come.
On a side note I never knew that Red Hook and Widmer had distribution agreements with Anheuser. Their hand in the beverage market is much larger than I thought.
Are local stores refusing to sell the monster crap? That seems like the Vermont thing to do…..doesn’t it?
This is an important issue. I’m glad you covered it Angelo. Even though it’s just a name, I agree that this is worth fighting for. Imagine if it happened to your business!
Angelo, any chance you could add this link to the blog post:
http://www.hansens.com/contact/
It’s important for us let Hansen’s know what we think. They will respond to consumer pressure (not that I would ever drink Monster Energy Drink anyway!). I’m going to email them now.
Sean
Who are they gonna sue next? Cookie Monster?