National Bohemian owner, MillerCoors settle suit

MillerCoors and Pabst Brewing Co. have settled a lawsuit in which Pabst, the producer of National Bohemian, claimed Miller lied about its ability to continue brewing Pabst’s beers to put that company out of business. The settlement came Wednesday as jurors were ending their second day of deliberations after a two-week trial in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. Details were not disclosed. Since 1999, Chicago-based MillerCoors has made and shipped nearly all of Pabst’s beers, which include Pabst Blue Ribbon, Old Milwaukee, Lone Star and Schlitz as well as National Bohemian. Earlier this week, Pabst representatives declined to disclose to The Baltimore Sun the metrics on sales or distribution for the National Bohemian brand. The company also declined to speculate on the case’s potential impact on Natty Boh, which has not been brewed in Maryland since 1996 but is still widely popular here. As recently as 2011, 90 percent of its sales came from the Baltimore area. Baltimore, city police said. Police said the officers were following a “wanted vehicle” when the officers’ vehicle struck a second vehicle in the 3300 block of Liberty Heights Ave. in the Ashburton neighborhood. Two officers and two civilians in the second vehicle suffered minor injuries and were taken to a local hospital. The vehicle that was being followed got away, police said. The incident was first reported at 1:50 p.m. The department’s crash unit is investigating.