Time to drop "Craft" from Craft Beer?

I'm the same way. When asked what kind of beer I like, I say GOOD beer.

 

I've never used the term "Craft" beer. People ask me what my favorite Genre of Music is...I might state, Metal. Pretty broad, right? I feel it is human nature to want to Classify things to have a familiarity/Distinction with them. When people ask me what my favorite beer is..I Respond with.... Which Style of Beer? End of story.

 

Who cares? I dunno man. I don't invest too much emotion into it. "My guilty pleasure is craft beer, DIPAs, Big Stouts, Sour beers etc..." Is usually how I explain it to strangers. Craft IMHO gets my point across.

 

It's not the ideal term probably, but you need something. It's basically just a shorthand to differentiate between bmc and everything else. I don't see any real problem with it.

 

I think calling all beer "beer" would be like calling all music "music", or all food "food". At some point broad becomes a little too broad... The debate isn't about styles or genres, just beer as a whole. At the end of the day it's all beer, but there has to be some distinction, despite the style or genre of beer. Newcastle makes a brown ale, but I wouldn't call it craft. Saying my favorite genre of music is metal is like saying my favorite style of beer is stout. That's not the question. It's more like, 'do you like independent metal bands, or corporate owned shitty repetitive redundant metal bands?' It's all music, and it can still be that genre, but there is a main difference between the two.

 

I see all sides of the spectrum. Yet, when we die, did it all even matter? I also like Shitty Repetitive Redundant Metal Bands, I also like Light Lagers. At the end of the day what I'm getting at is; People are going to like what they like, never mind the Labels. If you want to classify/label things go ahead. Yet debating it in a web forum isn't going to change both of our points of view.

 

It's a helpful designation. If I'm looking for a restaurant and they advertise having a craft beer list, I'm in. I know I will find something I like.

 

That's a good point. I'd like a cooler sounding adjective than 'craft', personally...but it does make it clear to people, like you stated.

 

Are those peaks when Octoberfest happens? Interesting (not really surprising, I guess) that "craft beer" has sharper peaks.

 

Exactly. Hey it's all out there for a reason. Even the bad products have their place. Everything is subjective, and no one is the same. For my question, I wasn't exactly being specific about the bands, just the comparison to beer. The corporate companies like AB all make the same boring beer and never innovate, and with today's selection of craft beers, there are so many better products out there. But of course some people will always like the corporate redundant beers, even with similar models in the craft industry.

 

When I am at a restaurant or pub, I ask for locally brewed beers. That means more to me than the word craft.

 

I used to be Anti-Establishment (Big Business). Yet, getting older I see where the silver lining just begins to fade. I used to be against Wal-Mart...which I still refer to as Fraud-Mart. I seen, though, where I usually spend my money (Independent Ma/Pa) pays the wage for it's employees. Those employees will in turn purchase Big Business products. So by me protesting...my money still goes into companies I Abhor. In the end, it's all joke. Just my .02 cents.

 

True, at this point almost everything is corporate owned. But I think to some extent, we as consumers have a tiny bit of power, and it's dwindling at this point, still a small chance to keep beer away from as many corporate hands as possible... It sounds drastic, but for a good result it may be needed. There are still independent brewers out there, many of them good, and many big and successful. It would be nice if they stay that way, as (big) small businesses that are successful, and not bribed or taken over by the corporate machines. The craft beer revolution is real, and it should be maintained. I should also add that, if farther distribution is the result of a payout, then that's not a bad thing. If corporate owners take over the beer recipes, and start raising prices, and promoting their old products over the independent brewers they just bought out, then that is bad..

 

Micro vs Macro is an easy term of distinction without having to use the term craft. Essentially accomplishes the same thing.

 

In my humble opinion, beer is just beer. Unfortunately, with the recent flood of "craft beer" in the last 5 years, the quality gap is often not that large. I've been drinking what I consider higher quality beer for 10+ years, and lately have had to seriously re evaluate the cost vs quality. This evaluation has led me to drinking more wine and scotch than beer.. Where I find the price vs quality to be quite a bit more consistent than beer. For example, I poured out a decent bit of project Pam tonight (13.99/750ml), and moved to Rex Goliath cab (4.99/750ml) which just makes more sense to my taste buds (and wallet).. Kids aren't cheap, and I'm not too high and mighty to say I don't drink for the buzz, because I do, damnit.

 

I agree with you on this. I respect brewery(ies) that stay in state because they don't want to play ball with nationwide distributors. Yet if a Brewery has the same quality of beers that has from the time of its first release, that has enough to play ball with other state distributors, then it is not a bad thing. I hate to sound Hippy-ish but I believe all beer should be open to all people. Yet that's open to the other debate: Flooding Markets and Outdated Beer.

 

That's what I would say, but now it's hard to distinguish as some microbreweries have become so large they are almost macro size, and some like GI being bought by macro, but still having the original micro quality.. so it's really hard to distinguish, unless you focus on the quality/integrity, or if you're willing to call GI, BP, Lagunitas, and others macro now, which I still refer to as craft. Some like SN, Stone, SA, and others are so large they almost seem like macro-craft breweries, but obviously still good micro/craft quality. I really don't get the upset over the term "craft". I think the problem here is what determines if it's "craft" or not. I refer to craft generally as creative, innovative, independent breweries that aren't a complete corporate takeover. There are shitty craft breweries, and really awesome craft breweries, despite the size and everything else. It's just the type of beers they make and how they make it. That's my determination of what's a craft brewery or not. I would still call GI, BP, Lag., etc. craft and maybe micro, or post-micro, but others may call them macro and non-craft because of the association with big beer.

 

I think it depends on who the audience is. If your talking to your friend or girlfriend (someone who knows you well) you can just say "beer" because they know you mean craft beer. If im talking to someone who doesn't know me and my tastes, it's usually a good idea to designate "craft beer".

 

I say craft beer so that people don't think I'm some Bud Light swilling hillbilly.

{Please note, I live in a fairly un-enlightened state}

 

I'm not saying they're taking over the world, but there are certainly more than a few brewing upstarts in Germany and they do almost universally refer to themselves as "craft" beer. Their term, not mine. I'm not talking about Kostritzer or Becks, but the smaller places. Crew Republic, Ale Mania, BrauKunstKeller, Dolden Sud, Schoppe, Pax, Haeffner, etc.
You can now include Stone on that list. BrewDog has a location in Berlin that sort of counts, as well. Does the average German beer drinker know or use that term? No. Did the average American beer drinker use the term "craft" in 1990 or even 2000?
Their small brewery upstarts have commandeered the word "craft" and I don't think many of them are really pitching snobbery. If anything, they're pitching modern American beer styles in most cases. That may or may not be good (it could even be disastrous), but I don't think it's snobbish.