More eye-rolling stuff from Chowhound. Enjoy! https://www.chowhound.com/1781162/craft-beer-vs-commercial-beer/
“The idea is to appeal to the majority of people, so commercial beer sticks to a few core styles of beer that most are familiar with, like ales and lagers.” that comment in the article is when I officially checked out.
But that means you missed this: And don't think they meant those 3 brands (which would still be wrong). They mean Guinness, as the linked article says:
And this... "Domestic companies categorized in the commercial beer space are easily recognizable, like Corona, Coors, Budweiser, and Heineken — you'll see these beers advertised on TV and at sporting events like the Super Bowl."
The way things are going with corporate buyouts, a lot of craft beer IS now corporate beer, unfortunately. Rarely is that transaction ever an improvement. The corporate money mongers cheapen up the recipes and what used to be a good craft beer is now a mediocre craft like tasting beer backed up by national distribution and advertising and tap takeovers. Magic Hat is the first one that comes to mind. I get it though. Making money in the beer business especially these days is tough. If someone comes along holding your retirement in the form of a big fat check, it's a tough decision to keep struggling, or cash that check and head to the closest tropical island and drink beers on the beach with little umbrellas in them. I don't blame them for selling out, it just sucks when they do.
I was hoping that the article was some piece of AI generated rubbish, but it would appear that an actual human wrote that groundbreaking journalistic masterpiece. What a maroon…
I was reading that quote like what’s the issue that seems pretty reasonable, then I read the last 4 words haha
If you're brewing more than 100,000 barrels a year, you aren't "micro". How do you classify contract brews? You're faced with a crazy-quilt of brewing strategies, so you're not going to get a short and snappy accurate description of a particular segment.
dudes over 55 stay away from these articles and those daily pointless youtube video threads...it's bad for your health!
Just because your company is independently owned shouldn’t exempt it from being classified as a macro-brewer. I think the brewers association has a different viewpoint, though mine makes more sense. Isn’t Boston Beer bigger than Pabst, so shouldn’t BBC be classified as a macro-brewer? There should be a strict line between macro and micro that should be followed regardless of company ownership. Contract-brews should be separately classified.
THE BREWERS ASSOCIATION'S BARRELAGE LIMIT is a bit lower. There is, again from THE BREWERS ASSOCIATION: They must use Pabst's barrelage figure from 1979 - for nostalgia sake, I guess? And before they bought the approx. 40 other brands they now own. Pabst's 2023 estimated barrelage was 3,285,000 bbl. but that's still more than twice the size of Boston Beer Co. at 1,424,600 bbl. since the Brewers Association only counts their "beer", not tea, cider or seltzer.
totally irrelevant imo, my exclusive criteria is what the liquid in the container tastes like and whether i find it pleasant or not.
Actually, Corona IS from a domestic company (Constellation), producing beer in Mexico for US consumption.