The case centered on competing claims between two African American-owned bourbon companies about who was "first" in the Kentucky distilling industry. Victory Global, doing business as Brough Brothers, sued Fresh Bourbon in 2021 for false advertising after Fresh Bourbon claimed to be the first African American distillery in Kentucky since slavery. Both companies launched around the same time, with Victory Global opening its physical distillery in Louisville in December 2020, while Fresh Bourbon didn't open its Lexington facility until 2022.
The Sixth Circuit found that Fresh Bourbon's statements were ambiguous rather than literally false, noting they could be interpreted as truthfully claiming Fresh Bourbon was first to actually distill bourbon in Kentucky. "Fresh Bourbon's use of these verbs does not meet that high standard" for literal falsity, wrote Judge Murphy, explaining that the Edwardses "put the raw materials into a still" at Hartfield & Co. Distillery starting in 2018, while Victory Global sourced its early bourbon from Indiana without participating in the distilling process.
The district court had granted summary judgment to Fresh Bourbon in January 2025, finding that Victory Global failed to introduce evidence that Fresh Bourbon's statements deceived consumers. Victory Global argued on appeal that the statements were literally false and thus triggered a presumption of consumer deception, but the appeals court disagreed.
The ruling highlights the difficulty of proving false advertising claims in competitive markets where companies make similar claims. Victory Global had sought to establish itself as the first African American-owned distillery with its own physical location, while Fresh Bourbon emphasized being first to actually distill bourbon in Kentucky through its arrangement with Hartfield & Co.