United States District Court Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division
- A new lawsuit claims Sazerac is misleading consumers that its 99 cent "Fireball Cinnamon" product contains whisky.
- The product, which debuted in 2020, contains malt liquor flavored to taste like whisky.
- The suit claims the company created the "overall misleading impression" that it contains whisky.
Fireball parent company Sazerac is feeling the burn.
The company is facing a new class-action lawsuit claiming it misled consumers that its "Fireball Cinnamon" mini bottles contain whisky, when they actually are made of malt liquor — flavored to taste like the spirit.
The product at the center of the suit typically retails for 99 cents, and began popping up at gas stations, grocers and convenience stores in 2020. Its ubiquitousness prompted many to wonder how the stores were bypassing liquor laws to sell whisky — until the plaintiff discovered it wasn't whisky at all.
The suit, filed this month by an Illinois woman who bought the small bottles thinking they were whisky, cites an April 2021 article in the Times Union in Albany by food writer Steve Barnes explaining that it's "an easy mistake to make, and one intended by the manufacturer."
"It's not actual Fireball Cinnamon Whisky. It's a malt-beverage version called simply Fireball Cinnamon. Introduced last summer, it's now available in 170,000 stores that cannot sell spirits, according to the company," Barnes wrote.
A Sazerac spokesperson told Insider the company does not comment on ongoing litigation, but shared a link to a Q&A on its website.
The page explains that Fireball Cinnamon was created in response to "feedback from consumers wanting to purchase Fireball Whisky in a wider variety of convenient shopping locations, including stores that can only sell beer, malt beverages and wine products."
According to Barnes, the mini bottles also irked liquor store sellers, who said consumers are opting to buy the cheaper version of what they believe to be cinnamon whisky elsewhere.
The issue, according to the suit, is that the bottle looks nearly identical to mini bottles of Fireball that do contain whisky. The only difference: The word "whisky" is removed.
"While federal and identical state regulations allow the Product's use of the distilled spirit brand name of Fireball, they prohibit the overall misleading impression created as to 'Fireball Cinnamon' version," the suit states.
Further, the lawsuit alleges the product's statement of composition — or its ingredient list — is also misleading. It says it contains "malt beverage with natural whisky & other flavors and caramel color." Per the suit, by not including the word "flavors" after whisky, it gives the impression it contains real whisky.
"When viewed together with the Fireball distilled spirit brand name, the label misleads consumers into believing it is or contains distilled spirits," the lawsuit states.