Bell's vs. Northern Brewer: A battle to the death! NOT!

Okay everyone, here is my very first opinionated post and it has the potential to get very heated. I'll try to keep my cool.

Unless you are an absolute beer nerd (like Evan and I) and follow local, regional, and national brewing news and events, then you probably haven't heard what it is that I am upset about. I will do my best to explain the situation.

I'll start by laying down my opinions on both entities involved in this debacle. Bell's Brewery out of Kalamazoo, MI has a most enjoyable year round beer called Two Hearted Ale. Hopefully everyone reading this has tried it. If not you should, I think it's pretty good. Northern Brewer is my favorite homebrew supply company. I have used them for all of my ingredient since the beginning. I have always been happy with their products and service.

 Northern Brewer creates what are called "clone kits". Clone kits contain all the ingredients necessary to brew a batch of beer that tastes like a clone of your favorite type of production brew. These clone kits are usually given hilarious names that pay tribute to the beer from which they were inspired. For example, New Glarus Brewery's beer Spotted Cow is aptly dubbed "Speckled Heifer". Northern Brewer created a clone of Bell's Two Hearted Ale, and called it "Three Hearted Ale".

Today, Northern Brewer posted something on their Facebook page asking fans of the page to help come up with a new name for the Two Hearted Ale. Apparently, an attorney associated with Bell's had sent a letter asking Northern Brewer to change the name of their kit. Details aren't clear, but as far as Northern Brewer has said there was no threat of legal action or anything like that. Northern Brewer was happy to comply, and seemed to think it would be fun to open discussion to the Facebook fans for the new kit name.

Needless to say, some people like to make a big deal out of nothing. The majority of the responses to Northern Brewer's posts have been negative towards Bell's. People are ranting about boycotting Bell's, and sending them mail expressing their distaste. I disagree with this completely. I'm not saying my opinion is the right one, but I will lay out my rational in a series of arguments:

- Bell's has all the right in the world to ask Northern Brewer to change the name of the kit.
- Northern Brewer is completely fine with changing the name of the kit.
- Northern Brewer never meant to incite a riot, they were trying to get some fan involvement in choosing a new name.
- Northern Brewer has clarified that they love Bell's and do not want any negative action to come from this situation.

For arguments against my arguments:

Why now after 10 years?
Who knows. Personally, I think it might have something to do with Northern Brewer's recent collaboration with Surly on a series of pro kits. Pro kits are not clones of beers, but actual scaled down homebrew sized ingredient kits for the exact recipe for a production beer.

Why not just ask instead of involving lawyers?
I'm not a business man or a lawyer. I do, however, understand that when you are dealing with naming rights for things and any type of brand registration it is definitely a legal issue. It's possible Bell's just wanted to make sure they did things through the proper channels.

This issue is open for discussion in my book, so please reply. Post early and often. Like I said, I love Bell's and I love Northern Brewer. This really seems like it should be a non-issue to me. I'm sort of annoyed that people are getting so out of hand.

Speak your mind.


Zach