Craft Brew Alliance, the Portland, Oregon based business that owns several beer brands, has announced a settlement in a class action lawsuit that was initiated a few years ago by beer drinkers who felt the Kona beer brand was using deceptive advertising. The settlement amounts to approximately $4.7 million.
The class action suit involved Kona Brewing’s supposed Hawaiian origins. Kona Brewing, as many in the beer business know, was founded on the big island of Hawaii. Today, however, the beer maker has breweries in other locations but the advertising invokes a feeling of the Hawaiian tropics. This prompted consumers to sue, claiming that Kona was using false and deceptive advertising to make potential buyers believe the product was brewed only in Hawaii.
Kona Brewing’s facility in Kona, Hawaii is, indeed, still up and running. But the bulk of the beer is brewed at other Kona locations in Portland, Oregon; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and at an Anheuser- Busch brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado. The class action suit was initiated by consumers who purchased beer at the Portsmouth, New Hampshire facility and felt they were deliberately misled into thinking the beer was brewed in Hawaii and thus was an exclusive beer, commanding a higher price.
Craft Brew Alliance owns several other, popular adult beverage brands, among them Widmer Brothers Brewing, Redhook, Square Mile Cider, Wynwood Brewing, Appalachian Mountain Brewery, and Cisco Brew.
A preliminary motion for approval is expected to take place on or before May 23, 2019. More details on the settlement will be available at that time. A hearing for preliminary approval is scheduled for October 24, 2019.
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