Brewer Bites Back at Starbucks Over Frappuccino C&D

What's a microbrewery to do when they get a cease and desist from one of the biggest coffee chains in the country? Exit 6 Pub and Brewery outside of St. Louis was happily brewing its Frappicino beer [sic] when owner Jeff Britton received a C&D from international coffee behemoth Starbucks asking him to stop using the name. (Starbucks has a trademark on their Frappuccino drink name.) It tuns out Starbucks discovered Exit 6 thanks to the beer app Untappd, which showed a mere three users had sampled their Frappicino beer.

Writing Starbucks a check for $6 ("toward the legal fees"), Britton responded that "We never thought that our beer drinking customers would have thought that the alcoholic beverage coming out of the tap would have actually been coffee from one of the many, many, many stores located a few blocks away." The brewery has since changed the name of the beer to "The F Word" after Britton suggested the alternative "Phrappaccino" in his response. Additionally, Britton promised to "stop production of our 'Starbuck-McDonalds-Coca Cola-Marlboro honey lager' for fear of further repercussions." Britton's full response, which he posted to the brewery's Facebook page, as well as the original C&D and a local news report, are below.

Starbucks' Cease and Desist

Exit 6's Response

Video: Local brewpub's sarcastic response to Starbucks letter

· Local brewpub's sarcastic response to Starbucks letter [KSDK via GSNY]
· Exit 6 [Facebook]
· All Starbucks Coverage on Eater [-E-]