Weed Amber Ale–Update

Danny and Michael Weed decided to get into the beer-making business after the elder Weed retired from Pratt & Whitney last year. They wanted to use the family name, but when they went and searched the Internet for Weed Beer, they kept coming up with stories about a Northern California brewery that was battling the federal government over whether the company’s product promoted marijuana use.

Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) in 2008 over whether the brewery’s “Try Legal Weed” slogan violated federal laws that prohibit promoting an illegal drug. The TTB ultimately backed down from its position, said Vaune Dillmann, who founded Mount Shasta Brewing with his wife.

Abner Weed Beer was named after a lumber baron who founded a mill town that bears his name near the California-Oregon border around 1901. Abner Weed died in 1917.

Michael Weed and his father contacted Dillmann about a year ago. Ultimately, they reached an agreement to allow the Weeds from Connecticut to license the Abner Weed brand, the recipe for the beer and the right to have it distributed here on the East Coast

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Michael Weed said he is paying Dillmann a flat per-barrel royalty fee. The first cases of Abner Weed beer should begin showing up on the shelves of Connecticut package stores next week, Michael Weed said.

Abner Weed Amber Ale is being brewed in Bloomfield via a deal in which Michael Weed is leasing capacity from an existing Connecticut brewer that he declined to name. Michael Weed’s limited liability company has distribution agreements with four distribution companies in Connecticut, including Dichello Distributors in Orange.