Maker’s Mark Makes News

Jan. 5, 2015 – Maker’s Mark is being sued and in a separate story, Maker’s Mark has historic links to the James gang.  Let’s start with the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs are from San Diego and say they were ripped off (defrauded in legalese) by the claim of “handmade” on the Maker’s Mark label as they purchased the more expensive product based on the expectation of higher quality. A bottle of Maker’s Mark retails for around $32 at the higher end of the price range. The lawsuit seeks class-action status — meaning any California consumer who bought a bottle in the last four years could benefit if the lawsuit is successful — and says damages exceed $5 million.

Suing spirits makers for label claims seems to be a San Diego sport.  We recently reported on the suit against Tito’s Handmade Vodka for the very same thing http://wineandspirits.com/titos-handmade-vodka-sued-over-handmade-claim/, which also emanated from San Diego.  In both cases the plaintiffs say that the “handmade” claims violate California’s False Advertising and Unfair Competition laws because the products are not handmade. There is no connection between the two lawsuits.

In a report in the San Diego Union Tribune, attorney Jonathan Boulahanis, who specializes in food and beverage law said,” Whether the suits have merit is a different question. Some words are so generic and we’re not sure if ‘original,’ or ‘handmade’ or ‘small batch’ have become generic enough that a court isn’t going to interpret it so narrowly.”

Marge Samuels, grandmother of the current CEO Rob Samuels, created the name “Maker’s Mark” and the handmade claim.  She was a collector of English pewter and noticed that the maker would embed his mark on each piece guaranteeing it was handmade.  She also came up with the iconic red wax seal on each bottle, which is still dipped by hand.  She was one smart marketer.  Besides handmade appearing on the front of the bottle, the lawsuit also notes the side of label says “Maker’s Mark is America’s only handmade bourbon whisky, never mass produced.”

Maker’s Mark is now owned by Beam Suntory Inc. and sells north of 1.4 million cases a year.  The only comment from the Beam Suntory legal team was the lawsuit is without merit and they will defend it vigorously.

The James Connection
We saw an interesting piece about Maker’s Mark’s founders in The Wall Street Journal of December 31 and the Samuels family’s links to Jesse James.  That was before he turned into a murdering bank robber.  Bill Samuels, former CEO and father of current CEO Rob Samuels, tells how is great-great-grandfather was Sheriff of Samuels Depot, KY.  The Sheriff helped arrange for the surrender of Frank James and a group of Confederate guerillas to the Union Army in Samuels Depot in 1865 about three months after Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant.  Frank later joined brother Jesse in his infamous exploits.  Bill Samuel’s great-great aunt witnessed the surrender as a small child and when Bill was about 13, she gave him Frank James’ .36 caliber 1851 Navy Colt cap-and-ball revolver.  The gun is very securely stored at the Loretto, KY distillery along with the pardon issued to Frank James at the time of his surrender and other valuable heritage items.