USA, AZ: Scottsdale's Fate Brewing Company becomes McFate Brewing Company

A lawsuit accusing Scottsdale's Fate Brewing Company of trademark infringement has caused Steve McFate, the brewery's owner, to change the name of his business to McFate Brewing Company, Phoenix New Times reported on June 15.

Moving forward, the Fate Brewing Company located at 1312 North Scottsdale Road — frequently referred to as Fate South — will be called McFate Brewing Company. The brewery's original north Scottsdale location at 7337 East Shea Boulevard will be called McFate’s Tap + Barrel.

"We could have defended the lawsuit in federal court, which would have cost us an enormous amount of time, resources, and energy, but we'd rather put those resources into our beer," McFate says in a press release.

The lawsuit was filed by a Colorado business also called Fate Brewery. It accused the Arizona brewery of trademark infringement and claims Scottsdale's Fate Brewery began using the name after the Colorado brewery, which has held the trademark for the Fate Brewing Company name since the summer of 2012.

The lawsuit claims "multiple instances of public confusion" in the past few years, with the most troubling instances occurring at The Great American Beer Festival in Denver. At the event, there was confusion among patrons as to which Fate Brewing Company's beers were being tasted.

The lawsuit, which was filed in August 2015, came just after the opening of McFate's second, larger location on Scottsdale and McDowell roads.

McFate Brewing Company, which was named "Fate" in reference to the owner's last name, opened in 2012 as a small-batch brewpub in Scottsdale and gained renown among the craft-beer community with a lively production of hundreds of beers in just three years.

"We don't want to lose momentum, and hope to make this transition as simple as possible," McFate says.

17 June, 2016