Litigious local expands lawsuit against MillerCoors

When San Diegan Enoch Petrov started buying Blue Moon Belgian wheat beer in 2011, he thought he was buying a local craft beer. After all, the trucks that delivered it to his local bar bore the slogan "Artfully crafted," with "San Diego's finest" in smaller print below. Plus, it cost as much as many of the relatively pricey craft brews he was used to buying. Plus, Petrov admits, "I thought it tasted pretty good." So, imagine his chagrin and loss of hipster cred when he discovered that Blue Moon is actually made by MillerCoors, the second largest beer company in the world.

Petrov started a class action lawsuit against the beer giant, seeking to recover the funds he and others spent on what they thought was craft beer, and also insisting that the beer's label and advertising reflect its true, uncrafty origins. That case is still in progress, but this week, Petrov appended an additional claim following his discovery of "a second and even more egregious offense" against the San Diego beer industry.

"Everybody knows that MillerCoors scored Big Beer's first big blow against our beer culture by buying the locally based Saint Archer's Brewing Company," writes Petrov. "And everybody knows they're doubling production in their first year of ownership. But what everybody doesn't know is that they're advertising Saint Archer's as 'a genuine microbrew' in the bartender trade journal Beer News. It's as if they're deliberately thumbing their nose at the notion of truth in advertising. And I for one won't stand for it."

In response, MillerCoors issued the following statement: "We understand that Mr. Peters is a very sensitive fellow, and that his undergarments have a tendency to get all twisted up. But the simple fact is that Saint Archer beer, like all beers here at MillerCoors, is brewed with yeast. And yeast is a microbe. So yes, we were having a little etymological fun by shortening 'microbe-brew' to 'microbrew,' the way Burger King shortens 'croissant-sandwich' to 'croissanwich.' But it's nothing for Mr. Peters to get upset about. Frankly, we think he needs to relax a bit. Perhaps with a nice, cold Saint Archer IPA."