Less than three months after punching its way into the Ontario market, Alberta-based Boxer Beer is getting jabbed by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario over its name.
Manjit and Ravinder Minhas, the sister and brother who own Minhas Creek Brewing Company, received a letter from the AGCO in December about the name of their Boxer Lager.
The name, said the AGCO, could be construed as using sports to advertise, which isn’t allowed under Ontario’s liquor regulations.
The product’s current packaging does not refer to the sport of boxing, showing only a crown above the brand’s wordmark. None of the ads displayed on the company’s site refer to sports.
Manjit Minhas said the investigation came as a surprise for the bargain brand that boasts it is sold at the lowest legal price and comes only in cans.
“We’d been working with them for a number of months to get all our approvals and licences in a row,” she said. “The beer was released in early November, it had been on the shelves for about five weeks when we got this letter from them.”
The pair has until the end of January to respond.
AGCO spokesman Lisa Murray confirmed the commission is investigating, stressing it is the commission’s duty to investigate any and all complaints. Murray said the AGCO has asked the beer makers for information.
The Minhas duo took over a U.S. brewery and now boasts 15% of beer sales in the prairies.
Manjit said that after a five year battle to break into the provincially controlled Beer Store in Ontario, they have been happy with sales so far. However, she said she is also curious about who filed a complaint about her beer. “We really feel we’re being taken for a ride here,” she said.
