An Open Letter to the Gordon Biersch Brewery

To whom it may concern,

With all the choice available in the craft beer market today, it is a wonder consumers are able to decide on anything. Considering that, I appreciate your efforts to reduce the number of brands I want to try and recommend. You see, Gordon Biersch is one brand that in the future I will not be buying.

Why you may ask? Because I make a point of ensuring that my money is well spent on the production of quality beer. Recent action by Gordon Biersch against the Oskar Blues Brewery has shown exactly where your company is spending money: not on making good beer, but on attacking those that do.

As has been reported in several media outlets the past week, Gordon Biersch has sent a notice of cease-and-desist to Oskar Blues, forcing them to stop using the name ‘Gordon’ on their classic seven-year old beer. A beer, I might add, named after a real person, Gordon Knight, one of the pioneers of the craft brewing movement.

This legal wrangling smacks of the same sort of thoughtless corporate hackery that a certain large brewer knows quite well, rather than the spirit of support and camaraderie that has built up the craft beer movement over the last several decades.

I hope that this was merely an oversight, and that such strongarming will not be attempted again.

Quite sincerely,

Andrew Couch

[ed. note: This article was originally posted under the title “An Open Letter to the Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Group and Centerbridge Partners” before I was made aware of the questionable distinction between Gordon Biersch, the brewery, and Gordon Biersch, the restaurant group.]

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2 Responses to “An Open Letter to the Gordon Biersch Brewery”

  1. Kelly Wilson says:

    Andrew,

    I would like to share an article with you from the Colorado Daily. Please see below.

    http://www.coloradodaily.com/ci_17100956?source=most_viewed

    Let me assure you that, as is often the case with the internet, there are relatively devoid of facts and context. We would appreciate it if you do read the article above and acknowledge the facts.

    Thanks –

    Kelly Wilson

  2. couch says:

    Thank you for your input Ms. Wilson.

    Which facts are you asking that I acknowledge? It seems to me that my only error was in addressing the letter to the restaurant operations associated with your company rather than the brewing operations of the same name. For that, I apologize.

    I would argue, however, that such a legal arrangement sure seems to be intentionally misleading, so perhaps you can forgive me for my confusion.

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