Craft Beer Marking

I just want to check that I am understanding your post correctly. You are discussing adding a "logo" to beers that are considered to be craft beer and those breweries would need to be a member of an organization (e.g., the Brewers Association). Is that correct?

I doubt that the Brewers Association would go along with this since they have been very consistent that they do not define what a craft beer is.

More information here: https://www.brewersassociation.org/

Cheers!

 

First, define "Real Craft".

 

Can't really define craft unfortunately. And what about breweries like SA? Where do they fall? Besides, there's plenty of what you would consider to be "real" craft breweries producing pish

I think perhaps a "rollom" seal. If I've tried it and declared it to taste good, then it can be produced with my name and a picture of Peter Sagan on the label?

 

Yeah it would be "quantity of beer produced by SA in a given year + one barrel". And would go up annually. Doesn;t mean what you'd be getting would taste good

 

Yeah- for the most part beer doesn't need to be produced in small batches to be good. Plenty of plainly flawed crap sure is coming out of the small ones, though.

 

What would you be looking to achieve - that every beer with the exception of those owned by AB Inbev / MillerCoors etc can be labeled "craft"? So does that mean that BCBS doesn't get the label, but Sam Adams Cranberry Lambic does?

 

It's been tried, and still there is no consensus.

Is there even such a thing as "big craft", especially when the big "craft" brewers use pretty much the same industrial production technology as the global macro brewers?

The Brewers Association has defined "Craft Brewer", and the Global Association of Craft Brewers has a decidedly different definition.

In your OP you stated you're a newer member, but this has been hashed and rehashed here before.

Check out this article in All About Beer Magazine.

 

I'm afraid that rather than leave it to the "main players" (i.e. your example of Stone) to define craft, you need to give it a shot as a) you started this thread, and b) because they and every other large craft brewery will have a healthy dose of self-interest mixed in with their methodology. So have a stab, just for the sake of discussion.

And just to make clear your stance on a couple of things:

Yes / No answer.

Is BCBS craft?
Is Bluepoint Toasted Lager craft?
Is Yuengling craft?
Is Sam Adams Boston Lager craft?
Is Blue Moon craft?

 

Then we're back to your original post: people who care about supporting independent brewers will be the ones who do their homework on the subject. I honestly don't think very many of the Blue Moon, etc., drinkers care enough to affect sales all that much.

 

Did you go to the link I provided you?

From the Brewers Association website there is a definition for a Craft Brewer:

“Craft Brewer Definition

An American craft brewer is small, independent and traditional.

Small

Annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less (approximately 3 percent of U.S. annual sales). Beer production is attributed to the rules of alternating proprietorships.

Independent

Less than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by an alcoholic beverage industry member that is not itself a craft brewer.

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 (FMBs) are not considered beers.”

https://www.brewersassociation.org/brewers-association/craft-brewer-definition/

It is very important for you to recognize that the Brewers Association does feel comfortable in taking a crack at defining a Craft Brewer but over the years they have very purposefully refused to define Craft Beer.

If you get the Brewers Association to change their minds here, my hat is off to you!!

Cheers!

 

I believe your question rests on the premise that "Craft Beer" is somehow a stand alone identifiable thing . . . which it isn't. A well crafted beer is a well crafted beer no matter who is the majority stockholder in the company. Also, the size of the company doesn't matter if the beer is well crafted. Two guys and a bucket do not a craft beer make, they have to know what they're doing, and a craft logo on the container is no guarantee the contents are any better than average.

When it comes down to the real test the beer in the bottle speaks for itself.

 

I'd venture to say that many of the acquired craft breweries (either by big beer or private equity) would fit many of the arbitrary guidelines set for this hypothetical label quite well. If the restrictions were so strict to explicitly exclude them, you suddenly are playing the Brewers' Association shell game of redefining who the cool kids (craft brewers) are every year, losing credibility.

The big problem you have is customers giving a shit. I can't imagine the market of people who are big enough beer geeks to know what the hypothetical "craft" label means and would look for it, but don't already have an idea of who they define as craft vs. non-craft is all that large.

Second big issue you have is, what happens when there start to be terrible beers with this hypothetical "craft" symbol on it. Ignoring my point above, if somebody bought Sam Adams Coastal Wheat (which was a crime against beer) and likely poured it down the drain, then sees the same symbol on a bunch of other beers, it might have customers saying "oh god, give me something that isn't like that Coastal Wheat crap, oh hey, Blue Moon doesn't have that label, cool!"