If You Bought Beck's Beer in the Past Five Years, You Might Be Owed $50

Consider the famous betrayals throughout history: Brutus stabbing Julius Caesar in the back, Benedict Arnold doling information to the Crown, Season 2, Episode 3 of The Real Housewives of New Jersey -- these acts of personal and political treason have shaped mankind's destiny.

It's time to add another to the annals. On the alcohol front, drinkers of the normally quite pleasant Beck's beer (the brand, not beer belonging to Beck) reported feeling hoodwinked in 2013, telling a court the "German" beer company misled them, claiming they believed the beer had been created in the century-old brewery in Europe, and not in the Midwest's own St. Louis, Missouri -- in the same brewery that Budweiser is made, no less.

Thanks to a class action law suit in Miami, filed by three irate beer drinkers who probably have too much time on their hands, anyone who bought Beck's for the past half-decade is entitled to as much as a $50 refund per household -- with a $1 refund per 12-pack, and a whopping 50 cents per six-pack. While the terms of the suit require those seeking a refund to provide proof of purchase, the original complainers and their high-powered lawyers are lobbying to make it possible to receive the full refund, even without a receipt. For now, those without receipts will be capped at a mere $12... but remember, this is without any real proof of purchase.

According to CNN Money, a spokesperson for the lawyers filing suit said, "The settlement is structured to provide relief to consumers regardless of whether they kept receipts, while at the same time setting caps to guard against the potential of inflated claims."

The same report states that Beck's "...was formed in Germany in 1873 and was controlled by German families for more than a century. But in 2002, Beck's was sold to the Belgian company Interbrew, which merged two years later with AmBev, becoming InBev." The decidedly Germanic labeling and branding of the product, combined with the Foreign history of the brand, could have made beer drinkers believe that they were getting some sweet German hops, when in reality they were just drinking plain American suds.

If you're pissed because you believe Beck's has been pulling the wool over your buds -- both taste and drinking -- you have till November 20th (as of right now) to file your claim.

Godspeed.


Wil Fulton is a Staff Writer for Thrillist. He hates it when beer lies to him. Follow him @wilfulton

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