Bud Light Served Craft Brewery a Creative Cease-and-Desist via Medieval Scroll
At this point, you've probably heard Bud Light's new nonsensical catchphrase thanks to the commercial that went viral. The meaningless "Dilly Dilly" has now graced novelty shirts, comments sections, and, as of Friday, a new beer.
Minneapolis-based Modist Brewing released a Mosaic Double IPA called Dilly Dilly on Friday. It didn't take long for Anheuser-Busch InBev to stop by to let them know the name wasn't going to fly. The bad news was delivered in an amusing (and quite public) way. Like the characters from the "Dilly Dilly" commercials, a town crier dropped by in medieval garb with a scroll proclaiming that Dilly Dilly beer needed to change its name.
The messenger warned, "Disobedience will be met with additional scrolls, then a formal warning, then finally, a private tour of the pit of misery." The last was the locale for the second "Dilly Dilly" commercial. No pillory was involved at the Modist taproom, though. So, that's good.
“A couple days ago we realized the slogan was trademarked by Bud Light, not as a beer but just as a slogan, and got a little scared there for a little bit,” co-founder Kale Anderson told Growler Magazine. “But then we said, ‘Screw it, let’s see what happens.’ And that’s what happens.”
While Modist got a cease-and-desist about two-and-a-half hours after tapping the new brew, Bud said Modist could sell the rest of Dilly Dilly at the taproom under that name. And, since the 2018 Super Bowl will be in Minneapolis, A-B InBev offered the folks at Modist two "thrones" to watch the Super Bowl with the Bud Light team.
As seen above, the Modist team took it in stride and even pinned the scroll up on the wall behind the bar. The staff also joked that the beer would be renamed Coat Tails once this batch runs out. A representative tells Thrillist, "It'll probably just go away and not come back. We didn't brew all that much of it."
h/t Star Tribune
UPDATE:
Modist announced on January 30 that it plans to raffle off the Super Bowl tickets from Bud Light. The proceeds will be donated to local charities. Starting Monday night, raffle tickets can be purchased at the brewery's taproom for $25 and there will only be a limited quantity so that people who buy tickets have a legitimate chance of winning.
The only catch is that if you win "we’re going to force you to wear free Modist clothing and take some pictures for us inside of the stadium," according to the brewery's post.
Oh, and the brewery is releasing another cheeky beer to coincide with all the hoopla. It's called Dungeon Juice. (A call out to another "Dilly Dilly" ad.) The juicy IPA is available in the Modist taproom starting Tuesday.