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.

Swedish microbrewery Sigtuna has today revealed the label artwork for their forthcoming beer Sigtuna ESB (Extra Sigtuna Bitter), a 5.6% ABV beer that is being launched in Sweden sometime within the first quarter of 2010.

The label, which features a photograph of Tower Bridge in London as a nod to the beer style’s homeland, is described as ”a light bitter with malty tones and a pronounced bitter finish”. It is brewed using only British hops, with Challenger the most dominant variety. The brewery also claim it is the perfect partner to that most traditional of British meals – fish and chips.

I’ll post more details of this beer and hopefully some words from Sigtuna’s Head Brewer shortly. Watch this space!