Tabasco maker sues Stoli ahead of Absolut launch
McIlhenny Company has filed a trademark lawsuit against Stoli Group’s new jalapeño vodka as the Tabasco maker announces a spicy vodka collaboration with Absolut.
The Louisiana family-owned maker of hot pepper sauce Tabasco filed the complaint on 16 January against Stoli Group USA as part of the latter’s ongoing bankruptcy proceedings in the US bankruptcy court in the Northern District of Texas.
On 16 December, Stoli Group introduced its new Stoli Halapeño Pepper vodka, designed for Bloody Mary cocktails. The Halapeño Pepper vodka is the brand’s first to be produced and bottled in Louisiana, at Stoli Group-owned Louisiana Spirits, home of Bayou Rum.
Stoli Group’s US businesses filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2024 following financial pressures that included a damaging cyberattack and challenges with lenders.
Earlier this month, its two US entities – Stoli Group USA and its Kentucky Owl American whiskey unit – filed motions to convert their bankruptcies from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7 liquidations. Stoli Group said its Louisiana Spirits business was unaffected and fully operational.
McIlhenny’s complaint alleges that Stoli’s new vodka and its packaging infringe both the federally registered trademarks and the distinctive trade dress associated with Tabasco sauce.
McIlhenny asserts it has invested “millions of dollars” building the Tabasco brand and trade dress, which includes the iconic white diamond label with red and green accents that consumers associate with its pepper sauces.
Stoli Halapeño lands amid Absolut x Tabasco rollout
According to the filing, preliminary talks in 2024 between McIlhenny and Stoli about a potential co-branded pepper sauce vodka collaboration did not result in a deal, and shortly after those discussions ended, Stoli announced its own pepper-based vodka product using packaging that McIlhenny claims is confusingly similar to its own.
McIlhenny’s complaint highlights federal trademark registrations for the Tabasco brand and argues that Stoli’s trade dress usage is likely to cause consumer confusion or dilution of its well-known marks – even though the vodka itself is a different category than hot sauce.
It underscores that trade dress protection extends to product packaging where the overall look and feel acts as a source identifier under the US Lanham Act.
The launch of Stoli’s Halapeño vodka came just a month before Pernod Ricard-owned Absolut and Tabasco teamed up on their own spicy vodka.
A day after the Halapeño launch, McIlhenny sent a cease-and-desist letter to Stoli on 17 December, alleging trademark infringement. In response, Stoli Group “refused to cease its violative conduct”, the Tabasco brand owner said in the filing.
In the lawsuit, McIlhenny argues that Stoli’s Halapeño vodka could cause harm to the launch of the co-branded Absolut and Tabasco chilli pepper-flavoured vodka, unveiled globally today (28 January).
In response, Stoli Group has rejected the infringement claims, stating that it “strongly disagrees with the assertions” in McIlhenny’s filings and believes that its product and packaging do not infringe McIlhenny’s intellectual property rights.
The spirits company confirmed that it plans to “vigorously defend its position through the appropriate legal process”.
The Spirits Business has approached McIlhenny Company for further comment.
Related news
Business rates: 15% relief for UK pubs ‘a drop in the ocean’
