Vahseer Meadworks Fund

Raising money (ideally as a legal fund, or at least to aid in the associated ABC and other government costs and fees) to aid Vahseer Meadworks in Alta Vista, VA to fight a nonsense cease and desist by Dogfish Head on a trademark filed on a beer they haven't brewed in a year or more and is not on their release schedule for 2016 or 2017.

Read below:

“We realize that there are a ton of great micro-breweries out there and we want to celebrate every single one of them. We know that our customers are the types that like variety. That’s why we don’t worry about competition,” Sam said. “For us, it’s all about collaboration and developing innovative products that the brew-lover will like.” (7/1/11 Wired)

Nice sentiment, but it's all a front. Instead of supporting, mentoring, or even just letting new craft breweries do their thing, Dogfish Head attacks and harasses them.

Here's the scoop. A guy in little Altavista, VA follows his dream and opens up a meadery and names it Kvasir Meadworks. "Kvasir" is the name of a figure from Norse mythology, from his blood was brewed the first mead. Things are fine. His labels and logo are approved by all the right gov't offices and life is good. Until a Cease and Desist letter threatening legal action comes from the legal department of Dogfish Head. They make an occasional, seasonal beer called Kvasir (which was originally released in 2013 and, as near as can be determined, seems to have last been for retail sale in 2015.  Regardless, it is not currently on Dogfish Head's 2016 or 2017 release schedule) and Sam Calagione (the guy with the nice sentiments above) worried that everyone would be too confused to know the difference between his beer that hasn't been available since 2015, and which you can't get around here, and a meadery in Altavista. Now the little meadery doesn't have a legal department and is a little confused about how Dogfish Head trademarked the name of a mythological character. But with exceedingly good grace the meadery changed its name to Vahseer Meadworks and got the new name and labels and logos all approved by all the right gov't offices.

A year later, here comes another Cease and Desist letter from Dogfish Head. Vahseer Meadworks is still too easily confused with Kvasir, the occasional seasonal brew that hasn't had an occasion in a year. Now, one can easily see that "Kvasir" and "Vahseer Meadworks" don't look anything alike. But oh no! Sam holds the trademark on the word "Kvasir" and won't even let the meadery have a name that sounds anything like it.

Want to know what else Sam and Dogfish Head have trademarked? I'll tell ya. They have trademarked "Namaste" and used that trademark to go after Namaste Brewing in TX (now named Kamala Brewing). They also hold the trademark on "Punkin" and have gone after several breweries demanding they not use "punkin" in any product naming.

It's pretty obvious that the little meadery will have to change its name yet again, they still don't have a legal department or anything to fight the massive resources Dogfish Head can leverage to squash them. It's sad that the guy who helped fight for little craft breweries has forgotten where he came from and now behaves just like the big corporations he fought so hard against.

That's why I am encouraging everyone who loves craft beer and wants to support artisinal brewers to boycott DFH, tell them why you're doing it, and help support Vahseer Meadworks!