By C-pher – Guns Beer and Other Things
Hi Folks, C-pher here…and I saw a post on Facebook that got me thinking…What really is Craft Beer? What defines one’s beer as actually, Craft?
So, I’ll start with the definition.
Google’s Online Dictionary says the following:
So, what does that mean to us? I guess we need to see what defines a, “Small Brewery?”
From the Brewers Association, small is a brewery that’s Annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less. Which, if I’m not mistaken, is approximately 3 percent of U.S. annual sales. Now, the other thing you have to take into account is the breweries rules of alternating proprietorships. These are the first real factors you need to use to ask, is this a craft beer?
They also say that they must be independent. This is going to be a small company that makes and sells beer, usually with only one factory. That this means that the brewery itself is not owned or controlled by a company that is not itself, a craft brewer.
The third is that they are traditional. “A brewer that has a majority of its total beverage alcohol volume in beers whose flavor derives from traditional or innovative brewing ingredients and their fermentation. Flavored malt beverages are not considered beers.”
The problem is, the Brewers Association keeps changing the rules. Not too long ago, they were saying that a craft beer is a brewery that brews less than 2 million barrels. I’ve found out that Sam Adams brewed 2.7 million barrels, so the BA raised it to 6 million as I wrote above.
So, this allows Sam Adams to keep their Craft Beer Status…and I had thought that it was because they had the small brewery in Jamaica Plain. Aren’t I the idiot? So, where does that leave us in figuring out this definition? Well, I’m not sure that it really does…as Gary Fish, chair of the BA Board of Directors and president of Deschutes Brewery says the following, “Removing the previous reference to ‘craft beers’—which the Brewers Association does not define, but rather leaves to the beer enthusiast—allows the focus to remain on the craft brewers the BA works to promote and protect.”
So we’re still no further ahead…as it’s left up to us. It does seem that Boston Beer Company is really driving the train here…as they are what’s made BA change the definition. They are the largest, and some call the pioneer, of craft beer. So they seem to be setting the bar.
Behind them is Sierra Nevada at just around 1 million barrels. That’s just under half of what Boston Beer produces. So they are still even under the original definition of BA of under 2 million barrels.
So, really, if you want to take this into effect, then yes, Sam Adams, is craft beer. And as directed by BA, then so is Yuengling, as they produces about 2.5 million barrels annually. And as Boston has several breweries, and is considered craft beer, then so can Yuengling even though they are operating two Pennsylvania facilities and a brewery in Tampa, Florida.
I think where we really need to draw the line is, the formally craft brewery that is now owned or controlled by one of the, “Big Guys.” Once they are into the mix, you can’t consider yourself a craft brewer by the BA definition.
I guess what we really should think is that last thing that the BA talks about, the tradition definition. That all Craft beer should be more about innovation. That really seems to be what we, as craft beer drinkers, seem to really put our worth.
What are they (the brewers) doing to:
So honestly, it’s really up to us…what do we want to call, “Craft Beer?” That’s the true question.
As someone said online, “It’s all up to interpretation.”