Man sues Foster's beer for not really being Australian

Foster's-- is it really Australian for beer? (Reuters)

In the latest controversy over imported beers, a New York City man is suing Foster’s beer for an allegedly false portrayal of its product as originating in Australia.

Leif Nelson filed the lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court, alleging that Foster's, which moved its beer brewing operation to Fort Worth, Texas in 2011 is duping consumers with false advertising of its products.

Nelson takes issue with the company’s use of advertising slogans like "Foster's Australian for Beer" and "How to Speak Australian"-- as well as using actors who have Australian accents in commercials which, the beer drinkers says, give a false impression that Foster's is actually imported from the land Down Under. He says the company made millions under false pretenses.

“Consumers believe they are purchasing beer imported from Australia brewed with Australian ingredients, when, in fact, they are purchasing beer brewed in Fort Worth, Texas, with ingredients from the United States,” states the suit, reported by the New York Post.

In the suit, Nelson says he was a Foster’s customer from 2012 to Jan. 2015 at which point he learned of the beer’s true origin. The suit does not say how much Foster’s beer Nelson drank within that time period but he hasn’t sworn off it—yet.

The plaintiff may take issue with how the beer is advertised, but he apparently still likes the product inside the can. If the company were to accurately label the can in the future, according to the suit, Nelson would still buy Foster’s.

A spokesman for MillerCoors, which owns the Foster’s brand, told New York Daily News that the company, denies Nelson's claims and "even employs an Australian brewmaster so that the beer tastes as true to its origin as possible."