New Orleans’ booze peddlers wage battle in court over cups

The makers of New Orleans famous boozy Hand Grenade drink launched a lawsuit over what plaintiffs are calling a copycat drink, according to a report in Wednesday’s Times-Picayune.

It’s a case of “potential mistaken identity” involving Bourbon Street’s “strongest” drink — the Hand Grenade, served at Tropical Isle bar — and Bourbon Street’s “stiffest” drink, served by Willie’s Chicken Shack in a long cylinder cup that lawyers for Tropical Isle say too much resembles their famous, trademarked version, according to the article.

And so Tropical Isle launched a lawsuit in federal court, claiming that “the intent of Willie’s Chicken Shack is unmistakable — to wrongly divert to Willie’s Chicken Shack consumers who desire a Tropical Isle Hand Grenade cocktail in a Tropical Isle souvenir cup.”

Meanwhile, Willie’s shot back. In a written statement to the newspaper, the chicken restaurant’s spokesperson argued that their signature drink “looks nothing like a hand grenade” and that “Tropical Isle does not have a monopoly on large plastic cups in the French Quarter.”