Time to drop "Craft" from Craft Beer?

But they still can't define what it is , just who brew it.

To most people BMC is beer.
So many of the posts in this thread are judgemental. I do know what bad beer is ; when it has gone off , cloudy (wheat beer excluded) or has unpleasant off tastes.Good beer is simply that which is a joy to drink and that depends on the individual.And to most drinkers that's BMC like it or not.
I do enjoy driving sports cars but that doesn't mean I turn my nose up at family saloons (I own one as well and use it 80% of the time) and certainly wouldn't call a golf buggy a "crappy" machine. It's created for a different purpose by a different clientele. So are different types of beer.

But I still don't know what "craft beer" actually is.

 

The "craft" in "Craft beer" is analogous to the "real" in "Real Ale." The modifier term is added to distinguish what makes it different from the alternative. Craft is as meaningful in its intended context as Real is in its intended context. Removing both from their context makes them vague and/or meaningless.

 

I rarely use the term "real ale" but at least it's useful in choosing a pub in which cask beer is sold.It does have a meaning though ; beer which has been allowed to develop on its own rather than being strangled by kegging, canning or bottling. There is of course "real ale in a bottle" which is bottle conditioned beer, it's better than nothing but far short of well kept cask. "Craft" on the other hand means any old stuff as long as it doesn't come from the big boys.

 

All true. Which is why context matters in the use of the terms. And one could say real ale is any old stuff as long as it isn't kegged, canned, or bottled.

 

Nope. It's the easiest way of drawing a necessary distinction.

 

I guess I'm in favor of keeping the word "craft" or some alternative modifying word. The term "Craft beer" doesn't create the "us vs. them" mindset, rather it reflects the reality of what exists in the world of beer, it is "them vs. us" in a very fundamental way.

The fact that the term "craft" has multiple meanings and fuzzy boundaries of meaning rather than a single precise definition on which all can agree doesn't bother me much. When you begin to analyze the meaning of almost any word, words tend to have multiple meanings, to not to be either/or and to have fuzziness to them. (Look at the word "beer." It has multiple meanings and fuzzy boundaries on its meanings, etc.)

 

The fact that a given word is used differently by different people, or that it has grey areas, does not mean that it is a meaningless word. The word beer has evolved (beer and ale used to be different. Sake is beer, or it isnt). Few words are more cintroversion than "good". Quality means a very different thing to those with experience in manufacturing than to most consumers. Are those words meaningless?

 

"Craft" is a handy adjective to use when visiting a new restaurant or other food venue that may also serve beer. Most staff familiar with their "bar" will know whether they have "craft beer", and will tell you the names of what is available. Some times the response is "no." Perhaps a limited purpose, but one I still value...

 

The same is also used for most Italian beers: birra artigianale.

 

Well, most of the time we can assume the term craft applies to those brews or any other skill trade that is not a huge production without the loving care of the crafter. In a way, the term craft just already exist within the realm of beer, whether it be from a brewer perspective or the serving perspective, for if you believe in the product, how it was made and all the hard work in making in it, you can say that it was craft because brewing is the brewer' craft.

I will give the example of gourmet pizza again. In Italy all pizza for the most part qualifies as "gourmet" or "craft" because the standards of pizza are held very high. But the word is not used because it is assumed and trusted that all perimeters are met for a very high quality pizza made by a very skilled and passionate pizzaiolo.

So it would seem for the moment that breweries from Spain, Italy, and Germany used this term to distinguish themselves from all the other said beer that has been known in their countries.

So even with this, hmm I do not know if I am for or against, because I think just enjoying a well made brew is the way to go. I know the hard work that goes into brewing so that is all I need to mediate on...

 

https://translate.google.com/transl...rafty-poretti-moretti-artigianale/&edit-text=

This article kind of goes in hand with our topic here...

 

"Gourmet pizza" seems a bit of an oxymoron as the dish is primarily a vehicle for serving a small smearing of flavourful topping on a slab of dough. It's peasant food, none the worse for that , but gourmet? But then I've seen "gourmet burgers" advertised.Enough said.

 

THIS. It's still useful to me, so I will keep using it for now.
And saying "craft" is easier than saying "small-batch, artisanal, hyper-local, often creative, independently owned, micro-brewed beer".

 

Can't imagine how many things would have to be perfect in my life for this to crack the list of top 1000 things I give a crap about. And my life's going pretty damn good...

 

The Brewers Association (which some here seem to view as some kind of authority on the use of the term "craft") is primarily a trade association for small(er) brewers. Hence, their definition is based on size alone. (Well, they do sort of make a "wink-nod" attempt at other qualities, which, in the end, are vacuous). But, even they have muddied the waters by subdividing "craft", using the terms "micro" and "regional", which are also based on size definitions. "Regional" (as they use it) has a definition that is almost as contrived as their definition of "craft brewer", since it has nothing to do with a region, only with size. (e.g. Can Sierra Nevada and BBC really be considered "regional" when their distribution is national?)

In the end, the Brewers Association's categorization of brewers is based on size, economic / legal interests, and political clout, nothing more. Which is as expected for a trade association / lobbying organization. And, they do perform a valuable service for the "craft" industry (see the thread in the "News" forum on AB-Inbev incentives to distributors, for example).

 

No

 

I think we should use macro and micro for terms of size, and craft for (at least somewhat) independent breweries that make some different beers. If a craft brewery is real big and has large distribution then it is macro sized. If a craft brewery is small, and pretty local without large or national distribution, then it is a microbrewery. Macro and Micro aren't necessarily synonymous with Craft or Big beer or whatever you want to call non-craft beer.

Back to the OP's point though, today there is so much craft beer that almost all beer is craft, and so the term craft is no longer needed. But big beer isn't gone, it is in probably every place that sells beer, and that is not craft beer. I think craft is still a useful term to distinguish.

 

My only real problem with the term is that lately, too many breweries that call themselves "craft" seem to demonstrate precious little craft in the quality of their product. So in that regard (that being the implication that "craft" is a promise of better quality), the term has lost any meaning. Besides, making beer IS a craft, and some are better at it than others.
Good beer is good beer, and the size of the company producing good beer is totally irrelevant, as is becoming more and more evidenced by some extremely fine and trditional products coming from some of the "big boys".

It's gotten to the point that most über beer loving geeks I know pretty much tolerate but avoid using the term "craft" because any real meaning it may have had at one time is pretty much gone.
It really is of no importance, and it will eventually go away anyway.

 

Having extensively studied geology in college, I definitely know the difference... I was more or less just pointing out that 'artisan' as a word needs to stop being used. It just screams neck-beard and tight jeans.

 

Hopefully PC principal is busy working on this dilemma.