SevenPack Beer Blog » Blog Archive » Monster vs Vermonster

Save Kokopelli In a move to stop massive confusion among consumers (because we are such a dumb lot), Hansen Beverage Company, creator, manufacturer and distributor of the Monster Energy line of drinks (don’t try finding that info on “Hansen’s Official Web Site” located at http://www.hansens.com/, you will only find information about their “Natural” products. You have to go to Monster Energy Drink’s privacy policy page to figure out that Hansen Beverage Company makes Monster Energy Drink: http://www.monsterenergy.com/web/guest/privacy), has filed a “Potential Opposition to U.S. Trademark Application. Serial No. 77/765,863″ which is a trademark application for “The Vermonster”, a beer created, and manufactured by Rock Art Brewery, LLC (I do not believe they qualify as distributor because of the alcohol laws in the United States).

Now if you do actually confuse Monster with Vermonster, you probably have had too many Vermonsters, and instead of reaching for another Vermonster (or Monster Energy drink in your confused state) you should reach for a tall glass of water and go to bed.

Is this just the start of Hansen Beverage Company and Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP’s (Hansen Beverage Company’s legal council) crusade to stop mass confusion of drinks with monster in the name? As Alan McLeod points out in his post: “The Bee-to-the-Ay lists 34 monstrous craft beers on the market already.” Are those breweries next? When searching for “Monster soda” on google (I was trying to verify Hansen Beverage Company actually made Monster, because, as stated before, they do not list it on their “official web site”, so I was confused, ironically enough, with who actually made it), I actually came across Flathead Lake Monster Soda. Not sure if they are still around, but they better watch out!

You can join the Facebook page “Vermonters and Craft Beer Drinkers Against Monster” and follow Rock Art on Twitter @RockArtBrewery .

[ First read about on: A Good Beer Blog , further reading done at: Burlington Free Press (with cease and desist letter! Ya!) and A Blog About Beer ]