NeverSummer

I'm so glad they are bringing the pub concept to the united states. A place where you can take your family! No one in Charlotte has ever... Oh, wait... Every. Other. Brewery. Maybe I'm wrong, but if you have signed your lease and cannot find $25k for lights and a patio, you may have bigger problems up ahead. I did notice that 'Ghost Blaze' and 'White Blaze' are no longer listed as beers. Perhaps these clowns should have never spent the money on attorneys trying to trademark other local beer names before opening a brewery of their own. My two cents.

Thank goodness Dukbone is hard at work trying to bring craft beer to all those who have yet to be "adequately exposed". Dukbone's Blog: Our ultimate goal is to go into an area of Charlotte where we can further promote craft beer to people that may not have been, "adequately exposed." CBJ: A key outstanding piece is securing a home for the brewery and taproom. DukBone’s search is currently focused on South End, NoDa and the N.C. Music Factory.

I just read in the CBJ that Dukbone is still trying to find a location. Anyone else remember years ago when they made a bunch of noise about being "The Primitive Brewery" with the tagline "Don't Bone Alone. Drink with Friends"? I'm amazed they are still around. If they ever actually open, I think they may take the record away from Free Range for the longest time-to-open in Charlotte. http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2015/09/04/dukbone-brewing-searches-for-charlotte-home-hires.html

Disingenuous Damage Control: Initiated “Because the craft beer community in Charlotte has been so supportive of our dream, and they produce such high quality products, we will offer other local brewery’s beers on tap in our taproom.” – Craig Nunn, Co-founder, Blue Blaze Brewing http://www.charlotteagenda.com/9033/details-on-the-blue-blaze-brewings-plans-for-their-west-end-brewery-set-to-open-in-2016/ (Sorry to beat a dead horse, fellas, after reading this, I couldn't help it. At least they are trying.)

The stretch from Triple C to Sycamore to Liberty to Common Market is great! I for one really enjoy Triple C and Sycamore more than the other breweries. I guess it's all subjective, but the beers they make are my favorite by far. Also, they are close enough to burn a beer or two between short walks. Bonus!

I'm not really familiar with that part of town. Any thoughts on their choice of location from those of you who may know the area?

Try a google search for 'White Blaze Beer'. Check out result number one. If they did invest time and energy into their name and the names of their possible beers, surely they did the most basic level of research and googled them prior to filing the necessary paperwork. I believe they made a conscious decision to pursue a branding concept they liked, irregardless of Triple C and NoDa having existing products in the market place. In other words, I believe they thought "they have the beers, but we can have the trademarks". ...and with that, I'm done. Good wishes to all involved in this chat. It will be interesting to see it play out.

This has become a bit of a strange side hobby over the past two days. On the upside, I am learning more about trademarks than I ever anticipated. White Blaze was first added to untappd as a Triple C beer on December 5, 2012. UNTAPPD The White Blaze trademark application was filed by Blue Blaze Brewing on October 17, 2014. TRADEMARK

I'm not sure about Ghost Hop, but I do know that Triple C has been brewing White Blaze for at least two Winter seasons. Furthermore, why would Chris over at Triple C have tweeted that their lawyer was involved if no attorneys were in the mix? We then hear that a Triple C delivery guy says his brewery is considering dropping the name if Blue Blaze does't let up. (?!?!) My two cents, for what they are worth, land on Blue Blaze being in the wrong here. I don't mean legally, I mean ethically. I did a search on twitter and saw that way back in autumn of last year, Ford (of Cheers Charlotte podcast fame) tweeted to both breweries a tongue-in-cheek remark about a 'White Blaze' collaboration. They may have been nice when playing damage control, but IMO Blue Blaze's actions are pretty hostile.

Good for you to have that conversation. Cheers to the high road! Have they decided to jettison the names and do the right thing?

Five bucks they tell you, "truth prevails".

...and in other Blue Blaze beer naming news, we may have two 'Ghost' beers in Charlotte. Make room, NoDa's Ghost Hop. Blue Blaze has trademarked 'Ghost Blaze'. These guys are great!

Well put, man. If they were being honest in both saying that they were unaware of the use of 'White Blaze' and that they believe that Triple C has a right to the name (which they clearly do!), why would this social media nonsense even be happening? Something smells very fishy in our small pond.

If it was as simple and as innocent as Blue Blaze makes it out to be, why would Triple C even need to have their lawyer involved? More beer, less attorneys. "Oh, you already use this name? Our fault. Sorry." Personally, this makes me really dislike the people behind this brewery-to-be out of the gate. It's a wide world of possibilities for a new brand, and to attempt to take Triple C's name right out from underneath them. Pretty poor. Heck, even the name 'Blue Blaze' hits a little too close to home IMO. #TeamTripleC

I heard an interesting bit of information over beers at Birdsong the other day. Brewery-in-planning Blue Blaze has trademarked the name 'White Blaze'. This is a pretty hostile move considering Triple C has been brewing their Winter seasonal 'White Blaze' for years now. Apparently, Blue Blaze has refused to back down despite having never even brewed the beer. I'm not a trademark attorney, and I am really unsure what to make of the possible outcome here. I hope Triple C comes out on top, though. For a brewery that has yet to even open their doors to take the name of one of our established breweries core seasonals is not only hostile but pretty arrogant. Charlotte is still a small pond, after all.

I also went to Sycamore last weekend and had a great experience. Granted, it was pretty crowded and I didn't spend much time asking them beer specific questions about hop profiles and the like, but they seemed to handle the crowd well and definitely had a positive attitude. I also asked about flights, and they gladly offered me a few tastes for free. I'm not a dark beer guy, and one bartender steered me towards the ESB, which I really liked. I also thought the IPA was on point. Given how young this brewery is, I personally believe they are off to a great start. Does anyone else remember NODA's or Birdsong's first weeks? Overall, I'm a fan, with my favorite aspect being the outdoor area. Warm weather days will be amazing here. As an aside, has anyone heard anything about Dukbone recently? When I heard there was going to be a Plaza Midwood brewery, I was sure it was them... guess not.