(Easton, PA) – Just received this statement from Production Manager, Christian Lampe, at Weyerbacher Brewing.

Weyerbacher Brewing Company, Inc., a small artisanal brewery from Easton, Pennsylvania, has ceased production of its beer “Zotten” due to prior rights and US trademark of “Brugse Zot”, a beer produced and commercialized by De Halve Maan, a brewery located in Bruges, Belgium.

We take this opportunity also to announce a recall of any and all Weyerbacher “Zotten” beer to the brewery within the next 30 days, for full refund from Weyerbacher.

Weyerbacher was unaware of the US trademark of De Halve Maan and had no intention to infringe on the rights of De Halve Maan. We are particularly respectful of the part of small Belgian breweries in the world beer scene and hereby officially apologize to the family owners of De Halve Maan.

Daniel A. Weirback, President
Weyerbacher Brewing Company, Inc.

We do plan to re-release this beer under a new name in May of this year. Of course the name and label design will have nothing to do with jesters, fools, or anything of a nature that would infringe on De Halve Maan’s trademark. We actually already have a name in mind, but need to check it out thoroughly (for obvious reasons), thinking that we’ll be able to announce it in 1 or 2 weeks time.