Shining Peak in a "sticky" situation

Taranaki brewery pulls beer after local punk band gets "filthy". Cold IPA versus IPL, what's the difference? Have we reached peak beer, again? Another world-class non-alcoholic beer hits the market.

Happy Friday Beer Lovers.

I did suggest last week that I’d have some early updates from Beervana, but honestly, the process of trying to update this on my phone with a couple (or more) beers on board was harder in practice than theory. So I’ll leave that til next week. Besides I have heaps of other things to process, such as the drama with Shining Peak’s entry into the Malthouse West Coast IPA Challenge, resolving the Cold IPA versus India Pale Lager debate, wondering if we’ve (again) reached “peak beer” and a brewery-branded range of men’s grooming products.

And in lieu of Beervana content, I have got this little A-Z Guide of What Not To Say at Beer Festival (or how no to be a beer snob) which is applicable for all beer festivals.

But first to Shining Peak’s sticky situation.

The rock n roll theme for the recent Malthouse West Coast IPA Challenge has created its share of controversy. First up I noticed Urbanaut having to explain that their beer The Dead C was not endorsed by the band The Dead C: “Our deepest apologies to The Dead C and anyone who thought they had jumped into a beer sponsorship with us! This was absolutely not endorsed by the band in any way whatsoever. This beer was our entry into this year's WCIPA Challenge and our enthusiasm really ran away from us! Lessons learned. Sorry pals!”

And now we’ve got a stand-off between Shining Peak and Taranaki punk band Sticky Filth, who are filthy at what they see as Shining Peak making money off the band’s IP.

Sticky Filth founder Craig Radford posted on Facebook that Shining Peak had been “making and selling Sticky Filth T Shirts without our permission, I asked the owner to stop selling them last week but he has continued to do so, Sticky Filth has not received anything from Shining Peak and he has been keeping the money for himself.

“As for the Sticky Filth beer that Shining Peak made we have so far received nothing in return for them using our logo and band name etc, we are currently trying to sort some form of payment for the band but so far they have not given anything. Because of this Sticky Filth want nothing to do with shining peak brewery , they have blatantly used our name to sell their beer.”

Now to me this doesn’t sound like Shining Peak at all. They are the ultimate good guys, regularly giving hefty donations (5 per cent of revenue, yes revenue) to local charities and organisations.

Jesse Sigurdsson from Shining Peak replied: “Firstly we'd like to apologise to Sticky Filth for any harm caused with producing this beer.

“Our philosophy at Shining Peak is to tell great Taranaki stories with our beers. I (Jesse Sigurdsson - Head Brewer) had a conversation with Craig prior to producing the beer to get his permission to brew the beer under the Sticky Filth brand. He gave us the go ahead and we thought everything was fine.

“Unfortunately, since launching the beer and selling t-shirts, the band has become unhappy and are now wanting some type of compensation. Selling t-shirts was an oversight and not mentioned at the initial meeting, and for this we’ve apologised.

“Every month we give ~$5000 away to a different charity using the proceeds from the beers we sell. We have offered Sticky Filth the opportunity to choose a charity and have also offered vouchers. They have declined both.

“To date we have sold 24 Sticky Filth t-shirts which make a profit of $10 each. We are donating an extra $240 to charity this month, so we don't profit from this.

“We are no longer selling the beer, or t-shirts, and the beer is being pulled from the Beervana festival list this weekend. The beer will no longer be produced.

“Again, we sincerely apologise to the band for the use of their imagery on t-shirts and wish them all the best.”

It sounds like Shining Peak did all the right things but erred in selling the t shirts. This controversy reflects one of the constants that goes on in craft beer: you could call it intellectual property theft if you want to be extreme or cultural referencing if you prefer the more gentle approach.

Just look at any supermarket shelf full of craft beer there’s a good chance there’s some art work that’s been “borrowed”. TV shows, movies, albums … I mean the entries to the Malthouse WCIPA Challenge alone would keep any number of lawyers busy if they were so inclined.

I once asked a brewer about a beer that referenced a large multinational entertainment company and the reply was: “They’ll never see it, and when they do the beer will gone.”

But sometimes they do notice. And I’m surprised more hasn’t been made of these types of infringements/references/homages. They have become so entwined with craft that I wonder what some breweries would do for beer names if everyone played fairly with trademarks and copyright.

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Beer of the week No 1

Yeah, alright, I couldn’t help myself. And besides I’d already ordered the beer before all the mayhem broke loose, so I might as well enjoy it right? I’m sure there are some of these out in the wild, the question is whether you drink them or keep the can as a collector’s item. I opted for drinking it, and it was full on Simcoe-Strata cat pee meets weed aroma. It’s brewed super-light and crystal clear and is slippery smooth to drink thanks to the hop oils.