Beck’s Beer Offers Buyers Cash to Settle Suit Over Packaging

By: The Associated Press

Drinkers of Beck’s beer in the United States who thought the American-made brew they were buying was still a century-old German import can get cash payments under a $20 million settlement approved Tuesday in a class-action lawsuit over deceptive packaging. People with proof they bought Beck’s at retail outlets could get up to $50 per household. The settlement resolved a lawsuit filed in 2013 by several Beck’s drinkers who noticed there was almost no visible “made in the U.S.A.” language on the beer’s packaging even though it has been brewed in St. Louis since 2012. Labels instead emphasize the beer’s supposed “German Quality,” and that it was made under the “German Purity Law of 1516” and originated in Bremen, Germany. A Beck’s drinker would have had to turn a 12-pack upside down to find the country of origin on the bottom. Beck’s, founded in 1873, remained in one family until 2002, when it was bought by the conglomerate now known as Anheuser-Busch InBev. The brewer has since changed packaging, and under the deal does not admit wrongdoing.

Click here for the original article.