The Brewers Blog

We're sure you've all heard about the dust-up between ASU and the SanTan Brewpub.  It was in all the papers and all over the TV.  Basically, as we see it, San Tan's owner, Anthony Canecchia, misappropriated the name "Sun Devil" to name his Sun Devil Ale.  ASU, doing due diligence on protecting their property, asked Anthony to cease and desist, twice.  He refused.  A third letter finally convinced Anthony to relent using a name he does not own.  Somehow this qualified him for victim status, which lead Anthony (always the avid self-promoter) to hire a public relations firm to tell his David and Goliath story.  In a way its genius; any publicity is good publicity, as they say, and the press just loves a good "little guy" story.

We think all of that is just peachy.  We certainly know what it's like to get a cease and desist order over naming rights.  Our problem is with some terminological inexactitudes (our Mother would call them "fibs") and some snarky accusations from Anthony that have reached the blogosphere.

It should be said that we think Anthony's a swell guy, heck, it could be said that we taught him all he knows about brewing professionally, but we won't.  He did work here as an assistant under Andy Ingram for about six years.  Although if you read some AZCentral articles and New Times articles you would be under the impression that Anthony was, "the Brewmaster at Four Peaks for ten years" (AZCentral.com Dec. 13, 2007).  Now, we can't blame Anthony for that, sometimes reporters don't hear correctly and misprints happen, right?

Anyway, at the risk of sounding like we're making mountains out of molehills, the thing that we question about all of this is that if Anthony was using the Sun Devil name for "10 to 15 years", as he said in a recent State Press article, wouldn't it have been used here?  Prior to his termination, not once was the name Sun Devil Ale mentioned or suggested by Anthony nor were any samples of his homebrew offered.   We just question his timing.  In another article he said he's been using the name since he opened San Tan but to the best of our recollection the first time we saw the name used publicly was at the Scottsdale Culinary Festival just under a year ago. 

Why would we know this and why would we care?  Well this is about the time that the ASU Alumni Association approached us to brew a beer that could be used at various alumni functions and in return, proceeds would be donated to the Alumni Association, it seemed like a great idea being that two of Four Peaks' owners are actual alumni. 

So, why has it taken until now for our beer to be released?  Well, because we did the right thing when dealing with ASU and made sure none of the names and images of our beer would be directly associated with ASU and their trademarks.  This took time and a little research. In the end we came up with Devil's Pitchfork Pale Ale.  We won't lie, we would have loved to use ASU's trademarked images and names because of their impact and recognition but it was at their request that we not.  They are rightfully protective when it comes to their image and we've bent over backwards to respect that.  What sort of galls us is the insinuation by Anthony that it, "seems serendipitous timing that the lawsuit against us [San Tan] and the launch of their new beer... it just seems profit driven" (State Press Jan. 2010).  This could not be farther from the truth; first, the beer is in essence a charity beer, second, we've been working on this for ten months, and third, somehow Four Peaks Brewing Co. and profiteering don't quite go together.  It's a cheap shot to say the least, but let's be clear; we have no animosity toward Anthony or San Tan.  We understand he must be frustrated for not doing his homework on this, but we're not the ones at which to lash out.

Another thing that seems to be troubling Anthony is that, "they have a Devil's Pitchfork that uses a pitchfork in their logo... but it was specifically stated in their letter to us [San Tan] that we had to stop...the use of Sun Devil on any alcoholic product and the visual representation of any pitchfork image" (State Press Jan. 2010).  First, "devil's" and "pitchfork" are not "Sun Devil" and they are not copyrighted by ASU, so they were able to be used and copyrighted by us.  Second, we can use the pitchfork image as long as it is not identical to the one ASU uses (specifically the one Sparky is holding in the logo).  It took all of about five minutes in a meeting with them to find that out.

There are still a few hurdles to cross with Devil's Pitchfork Pale Ale but we're certain that we can work with the Alumni Association and the Board of Regents to iron out any wrinkles.  They seem far from "Michael Crow's Empire", as Anthony calls them.   They are just some good folks trying to raise some money and protect what's theirs.   To us, it's being fast and loose with the facts for your own promotion that can seem, well, a little devilish.