Belgian court decides dispute over beer name

Have you ever been to Bruges? A little for the history and the stunning historic setting, but mostly to fully immerse yourself in the Belgian beer culture? Completely understandable, of course—cities like Bruges and Ghent practically demand it. And recently, a real beer war raged in usually so-peaceful Bruges, which has now been settled.

So what was the problem? A brewer and a café owner had a conflict because they had the same name. One of them went to court, while the other refused to let the ruling go unchallenged. But in the end, it seems no one is left with the short end of the stick—or rather, the pears.

Your name, my name

Here was the issue: brewer Stephane Kolijn brewed and sold a beer called Brugse Beer. At the same time, there was a café called ’t Brugs Beertje. Dries Brouckaert, the café owner, filed a complaint against the brewer and demanded that the beer be renamed. The judge sided with Brouckaert, and the brewer had to give his beer a different name. It became ‘de Beer van Brugge’, and he was allowed to continue selling the beer, but in the meantime he appealed in order to be allowed to use the original name again.

Out of the region

So what was the outcome? It may only have made things more complicated, but the judge decided that Kolijn may call the beer either Brugse Beer or Beer van Brugge, but not when selling it in the Bruges region itself. All the beer currently on sale under that name in shops and cafés in the area must be immediately withdrawn from sale.

Then this will have to do

The beer sold in the region (which also includes Knokke-Heist, for example) will get a different label, with yet another name the brewer has come up with: Brugge Limited Edition. Because he feels limited, we assume, since a separate label is being designed only for this part of the production. The rest of the country, as well as the countries to which it is exported, can continue enjoying the beer under the name Brugse Beer or Beer van Brugge. The café owner of ’t Brugs Beertje has said he will accept the decision. We hope they’ll soon have a beer together…

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Source: VRT