March 29, 2024

Breweries battling over similar names

DES MOINES (AP) — Two Iowa breweries are battling over names.

Knoxville-based Peace Tree Brewing produces a beer called No Coast IPA. And a new brewery opening in Oskaloosa is named NoCoast Beer Co.

The new brewery applied in December for federal trademarks on the names NoCoast, NoCoast Brewery and NoCoast Brewing Co.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has given its initial approval of the new brewery’s requests.

Peace Tree owner Megan McKay hopes to protect the name of her beer, which the company started selling in 2013.

McKay says the similarity in names isn’t coincidental and that before NoCoast announced its name, the company’s brewer toured Peace Tree’s facility. According to a post on Peace Tree Brewing’s website, McKay may be exploring legal options.

NoCoast Beer Co. attorney, Jason Friedman, says the name was developed by an Oregon marketing company. Friedman also said that Peace Tree is not the first to use No Coast as a name.

The dispute over the name has affected the Iowa beer community. NoCoast had planned to host a launch party on Wednesday in Des Moines at the Iowa Tap, but owner Jeff Bruning decided that morning to postpone the event. Bruning said he did not want to get into the middle of a disagreement.

“It’s a bad situation all the way around,” he said.

Iowa Brewers Guild president Dave Ropte said “these little fights happen all the time, although it’s usually inadvertent.”