Crafting a Lawsuit Print
Tuesday, March 24 2015

The makers of Jim Beam bourbon are facing a lawsuit over the word "handcrafted" on its bottles.

Plaintiff Scott Welk has filed a class action lawsuit seeking $5 million in damages, claiming the use of the word "handcrafted" on the Jim Beam White Label bourbon is inaccurate.  According to the lawsuit, the bourbon is not "handmade by a skilled craftsman as the company claims." Welk contends that the labeling is "immoral, unethical, oppressive, unscrupulous and/or substantially injurious to consumers" because "consumers are led to believe that Jim Beam bourbon is of superior quality and workmanship by virtue of it being ‘handcrafted,' when in fact it is not."

Beam Suntory, Jim Beam's parent company, called the lawsuit "frivolous," noting that a similar suit was filed against Maker's Mark, another brand owned by Beam Suntory. News reports further indicate that a similar suit was filed against beer maker Anheuser-Busch for the labels on its Kirin Ichiban beer, which according to that lawsuit are "deceptively advertised as being imported from Japan."

Source:  eater.com