I've never really liked the term "craft" beer since it always implied smaller = better. Usually because somehow more care and effort went into it. I've seen too many smaller places that had 0 idea what they were doing while huge German factories were honestly dedicated to making the absolute best beer possible. I'm all for supporting small and local, but only when the beer being produced is on the level.
Yeah, but this American independent / craft brewing we are talking about had a little over fifty years to jumpstart itself into trying to catch up to Germany with its centuries of uninterrupted history of making beer. This care and effort you mention is your perception through corporate breweries that typically will also have centuries worth of consistent production. America includes a lot of idiots. I mean entrepreneurs with excess money, who are not always capable of matching their enthusiasm for losing their shorts making mediocre to shameful beer and sending it out willy nilly. I remember working for one, or two in my time as a brewer. They had enthusiasm, sure. But, no idea what they were actually doing. An awful lot of those beer mistakes, sometimes, became the beer that is sought and the reason we are able to talk about smaller breweries now turning their attention to making what is steady old and very easy to fuck up lager.
I've actually never seen this improve the beer of the acquired brewery. Distribution initially increases, which is great, but then the corporate mentality takes over and only the brands that sell best are kept. Beer quality usually stays pretty consistent. Creativity and variety suffer something terrible. Pretty much. At least now. It used to mean something, but that meaning's been lost. Probably going on about 15 years now. Agreed. But why should it matter? Just so you can display the BA tag on your beers? I'd rather drink Sierra Nevada's beers than just about every other small chic brewery. I don't care about your ownership or your size. I just care about the product. Absolutely. It helps if the people aren't dicks, but I'm probably not going to be having dinner with any of them, so who cares? Exactly. To my previous Sierra Nevada example. Why would I pay a premium for an inferior product when I can have an expertly made beer that I know I like for less?
Not a maroon (maybe moron?) Spell check was an early limited scope AI. Just because there is an author name attached to an article, it doesn't mean that AI isn't a contributor (or even the main author). AI doesn't seem to accurately acknowledge sources, so AI probably doesn't complain loudly if it isn't referenced.
You’re not alone, pop-culture references generally go over my head too. https://tenor.com/view/facepalm-bugs-bunny-warner-bros-gif-417026222630465257
I forgot to take into account that most posts on BA are better edited than probably 95% of web content.
I'll toss in my 2c. Let's start with the Fundamentals of this article. This writer is clearly writing to what I'll call a general consumer. Thing to remember about this supposed general consumer is they aren't too passionate about this topic in particular but have a passing curiosity. This lackadaisical attitude leads to analytic methods that aim at a maximum reduction of complexity. Which leads to these "What is 'X'" sections that don't really explain what 'X' is in satisfying detail. If you did you would quickly lose the reader. A bit cynical, but this does give us our first clue. So, back to article. I'll start with their commercial section. This is the cynical idea; that the general consumer is looking for ease and familiarity in things at all times. Leading to the writer deflecting the criticism of Macros lacking in quality and adopting language that is warmer in tone than the craft section. This idea disregards that you could get nearly anyone to enjoy KBS if you stretched their palate over a few flights. Or people like me who felt beer was canned piss until a friend gave me a craft sour that permanently changed my opinion. This, Chowhound, is the fundamentals of what commercial beer is. It's an idea principally. An idea that macros are providing you ease, familiarity and warmth. Which is to suggest that craft is relatively the inverse; difficult, complicated, and cold. Craft is the idea that there is something out there for everybody. It's that beer can be accommodating to many different tastes and physical circumstances. There is brew for just about every kind of season, mood, and taste preference you can imagine. All that is asked is you try a flight or two. There are BA Stouts that wrap you in the warmest most decadent blanket of flavor you can imagine. IPA's that bring the fresh air of the trail to the bar. That's just the 2 extreme styles. I've got all time favs like w00tstout and Or Xata that I struggle to describe. Imagine a love so unique you downright refuse to analyze it. We're almost getting into the idea of things being Sacred here. I bet if you framed Craft in that way you would get a lot more people interested. But alas, neither Chowhound nor this Ashlen Wilder demonstrate any intent in getting people to explore a bit. A world of difference might only be sitting a shelf away.
While artlciles of this sort are useless in most ways, I think they can help to define what is and isn't craft beer by instigating either outrage or agreement among readers. If you can identify the folks for whom these clickbait articles spark outrage. the beers they enjoy are craft beers. On a related note, the term craft beer itself also is kinda useless except in the way it can join together folks with a high opinion of themselves and the beers they enjoy, and mutual feelings of exclusivity and community..
That idea is relatively new to craft, IMO. Craft used to be a REACTION TO there being something for everyone. It was beer for the sake of beer. For the sake of being different and NOT accepted by everybody. To quote Arrogant Bastard, "You're not worthy!" and we don't care if you like us or not. It might be weird to you or I, but not everyone likes beer and a lot of those people don't care to explore it further to find out if there is, actually, something out there for them. Craft beer doesn't need more people interested in it. Owners of craft breweries would certainly like that, but in an effort to appeal to more consumers, craft brewery owners are diluting what craft was and are making it into the same thing that they rebelled against in the first place. Homogenization.
For the sake of variety because unfortunately SN is basically now a glorified juice factory outside of Summerfest (which we had to beg for) and Oktoberfest. Hawt take right there.
No love for Bigfoot or Narwhal? I mean, I wish more breweries had a solid year-round and seasonal lager program, but I'm not holding my breath. FWIW, I really don't hold it against breweries like SN and New Belgium for putting out metric ass-tons of IPAs of all shapes and sizes. They fund the rest of their cool projects. It's the breweries that essentially just make IPAs without all the other cool projects that I have an issue with. But maybe that's just me.
I considered those points as I was writing my initial response and they are certainly valid. I get it. Gotta keep the lights on but most of us rarely see those other cool projects. BF and Narwhal are fine beers but I’m old and those aren't everyday beers. Throw us a bone and Drop a classic every now and then. Tumbler, OG nooner pils, Ruthless, Flipside, Glissade, porter, stout, Old Chico. I don’t put much thought into the other haze breweries. They obviously have their place and demographic. Just hate the amount of shelf space and draft lines they take up but if breweries aren't making other styles or, as mentioned, those other styles don't sell, then this ipa stalemate will just continue to be static.
