Beer battle brewing between Regina craft brewer and Minhas distillery

Minhas, the brewer with the "damn good beer" slogan, is accused of selling somebody else's beer at a Regina location.

Rebellion Brewing owner Mark Heise says the Minhas Saskatchewan brewery in the Queen City has been selling his craft beer as its own.

He says he received an anonymous tip about it during the Wednesday lunch hour.

He says he knew he had not sold the keg to Minhas, and his business acted quickly to retrieve its suds.

"I think it was just the rage, the emotional rage that someone had done that to us and that's our product. It belongs to us, not to to them," he said.

"It was very, very upsetting to know that our product, another manufacturer, acquired our product and was reselling it as their product, without our knowledge."

Moni Minhas is president and CEO of the company that opened its doors in Regina in 2017.

He defended the decision to buy Rebellion Brewing's IPA, saying he bought the keg from a friend who runs a tavern.

"By [Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority] law, I am allowed to sell Saskatchewan made beers wines or distilled products in my place. Everybody can," he said, acknowledging, however, that the beer was not labelled.

"In one part, they were correct, that my tap handle did not say their name on it, because our graphic designer was still working on it."

He took issue with what he called "innuendo" that the business had done something wrong, chalking it up to fear of competition.

"As if we were doing something wrong, or illegal or unethical, I say no," he said. "I think it's a competitor who's worried I would be selling better quality beer at half their price."

Heise said he has taken his fight public in the hopes of stopping Minhas from continuing this type of practice, or targeting other local brewers.

"There's been a full admission of guilt, and hopefully that will put an end to it," he said.

SLGA confirmed it is looking into complaints. It provided information about advertising and promotions. However, the material did not explicitly set out rules about labelling beer from other brewers.

According to its website, Minhas, which opened its doors in Regina in 2017, produces and sells its own beer, including a lager, pilsner and ice beer. It also has a tap room.

Heise said he's trusting SLGA to do its due diligence in investigating the issue.

with files from Stephanie Taylor