A newly established brewery has courted controversy by trademarking the name ‘Any Beer’ and is seeking to prevent publicans from serving other beers when patrons request “any beer”.

The company, Any Brewery, makes two beers – Any Ale and Any Lager – and has registered these names, together with the expression “Any Beer” as trademarks.

Brand owner Jack Dorff said it all started as a bit of a gimmick with his mates, but then he realised he was onto a business opportunity.

“I have been kit and kilo home-brewing for years,” Jack explained.

“Whenever my mates came around, I would ask them what they wanted to drink and they’d say, ‘any beer, thanks Jack’.”

“It became a bit of a joke, so I started to call my beer, ‘Any Beer’ and got some labels done up.”

“A couple of years later I was down the local and I heard a bloke say to the bird behind the bar, ‘I’ll just have any beer, thanks love’.”

“Straight away I thought, ‘I’m onto something here’ and checked and it wasn’t trademarked…so I registered the name and started my business.”

Mr Dorff says he now brews his beers “at a secret location” but has enough capacity to distribute nationally.

“We have started paying backbackers a bounty every time they hear someone say, ‘any beer please’ and the person is given something other than our beer,” he said.

“That seemed like another great idea as backpackers travel the country, are always in pubs and work cheap.

“We can get it to the pubs quick enough, so if someone is asking for our beer by name they should get it.

“If not, we’ll just send the pub a letter letting them know that we exist and asking them to stock us for next time they’re asked. If they don’t, we might have to speak to our lawyers about it.”

Mr Dorff says that he sees nothing wrong with trademarking such a common name as he’s not the first.

“Let’s face it, Monteith’s started it when they trademarked Radler and Saison,” he said.

“DB Breweries argued it trademarked ‘Radler’ as a reflection of the significant investment it had made and the brand recognition it had achieved.”

“I spent a fortune getting my labels printed so made a huge investment too,” Dorff explains.

“And blokes are registering other common things too. Trademark applications have been lodged for Australian Ale and Australian Lager…so why not Any Ale and and Any Lager?”

Dorff said that he had also applied to register the names ‘Same Again’ and ‘Another One, Thanks’ for their forthcoming light beer and cider.

As for the beers, the lager is described as being “A Super Premium Lager. Made with only the finest small batch malted barley, double-hopped with hand-picked hops, our top secret yeast and water drawn from our private water supply, this is a full-flavoured and satisfying, crisp and sessional dry lager. Low-carb to prevent bloating and the dreaded beer belly, our lager Any Lager^TMundergoes an extended maturation period of several days to ensure that we give you the ultimate beer-drinking experience. We assure you that beer doesn’t get Any^TM better.

The ale is “a refreshing Australian-style cloudy pale ale with restrained bitterness and a clean, smooth finish. It’s an easier-drinking beer than many craft ales and a familiar style that Australian beer drinkers will recognise. The use of malted wheat also adds to its refreshing character delivering a beer with a fruity nose and hints of passionfruit, grapefruit and citrus.”

Any Brewery
www.anybrewery.com.au
Ph: 07 5641 Beer (2337)