Red Bull sues bar for using impostor drink

Chicago -- A Chicago bar was fined $500,000 after undercover Red Bull employees said they were served misleading impostor energy drinks.

The energy drink Red Bull is widely used as a mixer in alcoholic beverages.

Wet nightclub workers were allegedly serving a less expensive energy drink and telling customers it was Red Bull, the Chicago Tribune reported Thursday.

"Red Bull is going after high-profile bars and trying to make examples out of them," Brian Morgan, analyst for Euromonitor International, told the Tribune.

Many bars reportedly try to get more bang for their buck by buying energy drinks in the form of a syrup and serving them in a beverage gun. Red Bull is more costly and takes up more storage room because it is packaged only in cans.

Red Bull's win against Wet nightclub is the company's fourth successful trademark lawsuit in the past year, the Tribune reported.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.