hop-obama-0209.jpgA tipster just forward an email that just went out to Facebook fans of Sixpoint Craft Ales alleging that the Federal Government raided the beer maker’s Red Hook headquarters recently forced the beer maker to shut down production of its popular ‘Hop Obama’ line started during campaign season. Even the Department of Homeland Security got involved, threatening to seize the brewery. Bummer: It may be the best beer we’ve ever tasted. (N.B. It’s Sixpoint Night at Barcade next week.)


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  1. Fresh off the (Facebook) presses:

    Subject: Hop Obama – please stop

    Please everyone, no more phone calls or emails about the Feds crashing through our windows with teargas and rifles to shut down the brewery.

    Also, I just received a phone call from the Feds in Wash DC about this and other related things, so please stop.

    All of this happened months ago – way back in November, and we decided not to tell anyone about it. We quietly destroyed visual remnants of the Hop Obama (the beer was already long gone, but we removed it from our website and got rid of the printed material) and went along with our business.

    The funny thing about this whole situation is we actually already stopped making this beer before the Feds even ordered us to stop. Immediately fter the election, before the Feds contacted us, we didn’t make a single batch of Hop Obama and the beer was out-of-stock at our distributor.

    It was only after the election – late November – that the Feds stepped in an ordered us to stop. We had prior label approval from them, but apparently they didn’t want us to do it.

    People had been asking me about the Hop Obama recently, and when we will be making it again, so I wanted to set the record straight and tell you- THERE WILL BE NO MORE HOP OBAMA AND THE REASON WHY IS THE FEDS WILL NOT ALLOW IT.

    However, as I said, we can reincarnate the beer, but we just can’t call it the Hop Obama. The recipe is not the problem, its the use of the name without the government and President’s approval for our beer.

    How about the Abomination Ale?

    Get it? hehehe Obama-Nation ale? 😀

    that’s it

  2. I’m looking forward to drinking some Presidenti-ale, real soon (if you use it, you owe me, sixpoint 😉 ). Meanwhile, I still don’t get the Homeland Security part. What jurisdiction does DHS have over IP disputes?

  3. The story on Gothamist has more details:

    Jeff Gorlechen from Sixpoint just got back to us and says, “This whole thing has gotten blown out of proportion.” He clarifies that the Hop Obama brew ran afoul of the law not because it was named after the President, but because it was named after a celebrity, which is illegal since it can be misinterpreted as an endorsement. Gorlechen says, “We wouldn’t have been able to name it after Scarlett Johansson, either.” However, since the limited edition Hop Obama proved so popular, Sixpoint has not ruled out bringing it back. “We just need a new name,” he tells us.

  4. “why do some bars carry like 40 beers with different names and labels but they basically all taste the same? maybe i have a crappy palette or something, i dont know. it just seems ridiculous to make up a stupid name for a beer, use the same (yes same) recipe and slap on a sticker you made in photoshop and sell it for 9 bucks. *r*”

    Rob – beer has more characteristics that distinguish it then wine does. If you told any wine snob that all red wine tastes the same I’m sure they’d laugh at you.

  5. Not only did Pacific Standard create their own Hop Obama tap handle…But it was a bobble-head handle of the man himself!!

    And these guys at Sixpoint are the most creative bunch of dudes, so when the next absolutely most delicious brew is shipped out, then this beer will be a thing of the past and only those of us lucky ones can reminisce about the sweet nectar that was once HOP OBAMA!

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