midlife crisis wrote: But was "Cascadian" an actual beer style at the time the mark was granted, or has that evolved only recently?
The original trademark application dates from 1999 -- it was approved a few years ago.
"Cascadian dark ale", as a style name, was largely introduced to the world via this BYO article from July / August 2010,
https://www.byo.com/stories/beer-styles ... n-dark-ale . Earlier usage of the phrase is VERY limited, and seems to be dated no earlier than late 2009, with a more formal usage dating to a beer tasting in late January, 2010.
A handful of dark, hoppy beers have been introduced over the last 20 years, but there was no particular style attached to them. Rather, the beers were largely called "dark / brown and hoppy."
Google news has a few instances of "Cascadian hops" from the last few years, but the term has never gained traction.
Again, as Jordan said, Steamworks seems to have fallen ass-backwards into this.
FWIW, I think there's a lesson to be had in this tempest in a pint glass: if you're going to come up for a name for a new style, it should either be descriptive (American-Style India Black Ale) or cleared (via 5 minutes' worth of searching) for trademark infringement.
Jason
