Asbury Park Brewery owner files lawsuit against Cape May Brewing over newly-released Shore Tea
ASBURY PARK, N.J. (CBS) -- A lawsuit has been filed against Cape May Brewing by the owner of Asbury Park Brewery. Jeff Plate claims he met with Cape May Brewing with a plan for creating a partnership over the newly-released hard ice tea drink, Shore Tea.
They allegedly declined, only to introduce a beverage by the same name, two months later in collaboration with Wawa.
Cape May Brewing released a statement calling the claims "groundless" and saying their Shore Tea was in development for more than six months.
Any claims that the Peach Shore Tea product, name, branding or packaging were developed in imitation of anything from any third party are groundless. Cape May's Peach Shore Tea collaboration with Wawa was a special release for the summer. Like all Cape May products, the recipe and look of Peach Shore Tea have been in development for more than six months, with the name and branding selected well in advance of their release to the public, in this case finalized in March 2022.
Wawa is not named in the lawsuit.
