The Whiskey Reviewer A World of Whiskey, Poured Every Weekday
By Richard Thomas
In the latest example of a lawsuit directed at allegedly deceptive labeling and marketing practices in the American whiskey industry, Scott Welk has filed suit in California against Jim Beam. Represented by Kazerouni Law Group and Hyde & Swigert, Welk alleges that the claim Jim Beam is “handcrafted” is false because the whiskey is made through largely automated procedures.
A similar lawsuit was filed against Maker’s Mark last year, also alleging that the “handcrafted” claim, among others, made by the company on its label was false because of automation in the production process. Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark are both owned by Beam Suntory, and both the Beam and Maker’s Mark lawsuits were filed in California by Kazerouni and Hyde & Swigert.
Beyond the two California lawsuits aimed at brands within the same parent company and pursued by the same lawyers, similar lawsuits have been filed against Templeton Rye, a controversial whiskey bottler often at the center of deceptive whiskey complaints, and whiskey bottler Angel’s Envy.
Who cares? it’s just a booze company they don’t produce medicine or food, it’s poison so what differece what the labe says.
Yes, but they’re falsely claiming they’re making *handmade* poison.
If any substantial step of making Jim Beam, such as choosing, sampling and testing the barrels that go into every batch for instance, can be reasonably described as “done by hand,” the whole thing can be handmade.
Or so it would seem in the U.S. anyway. If you REALLY want to gripe about this sort of thing, may I suggest you take your complaints on to $20,000 cars and $1,000 TVs and electronic gizmos, rather than waste them on $18 bottles of bourbon?
So does this mean we can sue every lawyer in the country? They all claim to be working in the justice system.
If not handmade it should not be allowed to say handmade, period! Distillers should remove such baloney. What’s inside the bottle really matters not the outside…