Can a beer brewed in Hesse advertise with the image of a Bavarian monastery? The judges at the Regional Court of Munich have to deal with this question. According to the court, the Central Office for Combating Unfair Competition has sued the Hessian brewery Lich for injunctive relief. The accusation: The Licher brewery, which belongs to the Bitburger Brewery Group, gives the consumer-deceptive impression that it is a beer brewed in Bavaria by advertising its "Benedictine beer" with reference to the Benedictine monastery in Ettal.
Tillmann Neuscheler
Editor in business.
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In fact, the bottled beer is brewed in Hesse, according to the statement from the Munich I Regional Court. The brewery has previously defended itself against the accusation of deception of origin. The Bitburger Group has been cooperating with the Bavarian Benedictine monastery of Ettal since 2014. Together with the monastery, the company Benediktiner Weißbräu GmbH was founded for the beer, based in Ettal. However, because the beer is brewed in the Hessian Licher brewery, the monastery had to put up with the accusation from Bayerischer Rundfunk that the beer was a "deceptive package".
The monks and the brewery fight back. Collaborations are completely normal in the industry. The beer is brewed on the basis of a contract with the Ettal Benedictine monastery according to the original recipe of the monks. "The monks also personally monitor compliance with Benedictine principles," according to an older statement from the Bitburger Brewery Group. The judges plan to announce their verdict on July 14.