It wasn’t so much a question as a demand when English brewery Fullers discovered Swedish micro Sigtuna Brygghus had used the acronym ESB on bottles of their new Extra Sigtuna Bitter.
In a letter sent to the Swedish brewer Fullers threatened legal action unless it immediately removed the letters ESB from the front label of Extra Sigtuna Bitter, stating it exclusively owns the ESB trademark in the UK and Europe.
Although Sigtuna agreed to comply with Fullers’ request they had already ordered thousands of labels with ESB printed on them, leaving them little choice but to cross out the offending letters on every single bottle by hand!
Sigtuna told BeerSweden that new labels are on the way but until then you can buy these ‘specially decorated’ bottles of ESB Extra Sigtuna Bitter via the Sytembolaget’s beställningssortiment; Art No. 89968 and 26.90 SEK for a 500ml bottle.
What about the beer? Is it any good?
Bark – ah yes, in amongst all the litigious threats it’s easy to forget about the beer! Personally haven’t tried it yet because I can’t get down to the Systembolaget in Märsta – the only place in Sweden right now you can buy it by the bottle