Submitted by Three Magnets Brewing Company
Three Magnets Brewing Company’s flagship beer, Rainy Day IPA, named after iconic Olympia record store Rainy Day Records, will change its name to 3Mag Rain IPA, and to keep brand consistency, Sunbreak IPA will change its name to 3Mag Sun IPA.
Message From the Brewery About the Change
In early April, we received a phone call from another brewery requesting that we change the name of our Rainy Day IPA, citing that it was too similar to the name of their brewery, and was causing confusion in the marketplace. While deliberating how to respond, we ran into the owner of the other brewery the following week at the Craft Brewer’s Conference in Portland, OR.
We shared the story behind the beer – it was named after Rainy Day Records, a record store that has been in Olympia since the 1970’s. It has helped us raise money for their charity of choice, The Northern: Olympia All Ages Project. We conveyed that we wished to try and search for an amicable solution that would retain both companies’ hard earned brand equity, while potentially being beneficial to both parties. We agreed to follow up with each other following the conference to discuss further.
At the end of April, the other brewery reached out to us and made it clear they were not interested in compromise, and insisted that we change the name of the beer. We asked to have until the end of May in order to have time to develop a well thought-out transition plan to mitigate any potential brand damage. The other brewery was hesitant to this idea, and said they would check in with their lawyer.
A week later, we received a letter from their lawyer, dated April 30, to immediately cease-and-desist calling our product Rainy Day IPA, due to violating their common-law trademark. Failure to comply within 10 days would result in legal action, which could include being sued for all profits we had made from our Rainy Day IPA.
Wow. That escalated quickly!
We do recognize the similarity in names, and we very much respect their desire to protect their brand equity in an ever increasingly competitive market. That being said, we are disappointed that they declined a great opportunity to work together to see if there was a solution that could benefit both breweries. And we are even more disappointed that we were not afforded, what we considered to be the minimum reasonable amount of time necessary, to rebrand and transition to a new brand name.
But we won’t let this situation “rain on our parade”. We are instead going to turn this into a positive! We are starting with a rebrand of our IPA line. An emergency meeting was called between the brand specialists at Three Magnets and Whitewood Cider Company, and we are very pleased with the outcome. The beers, formerly known as Rainy Day IPA and Sunbreak IPA, will now simply be referred to as 3Mag Rain IPA, and 3Mag Sun IPA. The beers will remain the same recipe, and we will still offer it to our customers in the South Sound, Tacoma, and Seattle markets. We will be rolling out the new brand identity over the coming months.
As of today, we have asked all of our wholesale accounts to change their tap lists to reflect the new name, updated all references to the beer on the web, and updated all in-store promotional material. Rainy Day IPA is officially dead. But to quote the great Obi-Wan Kanobe, “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”
About the Beers
3Mag Rain IPA – 6.8%AVB, 65IBU
This IPA, perfect for a cold, rainy day in the Pacific Northwest, has a gently toasted malt profile, balanced by Magnum hops for bittering, and Cascade and Centennial for aroma. It is given an even bigger aroma hit coming from Mosaic, Amarillo, and Cascade dry hops, and our northern English yeast strain lends light pit fruit nuances.
3Mag Sun IPA – 6.4%AVB, 75IBU
This IPA, perfect for those rare Pacific Northwest days when the sun pokes out from behind the clouds, is light in color with a medium body that finishes dry on the palate, but with enough malt to support the overall hoppy character. A blend of Citra, Centennial and Chinook hops give this beer aromas and flavors of citrus, with notes of tropical fruit and pine.
