There’s no need for lawyers when you have rap battles

Flocabulary is taking on new meaning in the beer industry. Our friend, contributor and New Jersey know-it-all Jeff Linkous recently dropped us a “link” about a fun story he penned on New Jersey Craft Beer.com involving two Garden State breweries solving their differences with the time-honored tradition of rap battling, instead of lawyering up (like all these folks).

What would you do if you made the only pale ale on Beer Advocate’s Top 50 under 4.5%, named it Boat, and another brewer in your class, a DJ, put out a lager with the same description and named it Yacht? Fans of Carton Brewing Co. suggested calling a lawyer. Owner Augie Carton said, “I’ll treat it like the greats do when someone bites a rhyme,” and wrote his track over the perpetrator’s beat. Sit Down Son is Carton Brewing’s reply to Stillwater Artisanal Ales’ Yacht. The New Jersey craft brewer teamed up with the folks at Smuttynose for the brew, a dry-hopped session lager, which at 4% and 22 IBU is ever-so slightly the junior to Boat (4.2%, 35 IBU).

Yacht is part of Stillwater’s Contemporary series, which is aimed at marking its five-year milestone for the brand. While Carton Brewing is the only one quoted in the article, it appears from the Tweet above that both are having fun with it. It’s seems to be one of those unique cases that advocates competition and creativity.

“You can be ridiculous and call lawyers, or you can do what we all came here to do and treat it as a call to step up creatively. Nas and Jigga were never better than the early aughts,” Augie says.