Craft Beer Marking

Even if there were to be a consensus on what is craft and a logo created, which consumer would it help? If the average buyer doesn't know what isn't craft then a logo won't help either.

In the end, there is no way to create a utopian label.

Just enjoy the golden age of beer.

 

As a marketing angle I can sort of see where he's coming from, but I don't see there's any way of pulling this off in the real world. Absurdly impractical to try define something as "real" craft.

 

While I can understand your slightly cynical view of this, I don't agree with your thinking.

Through a chain of circumstances too detailed to explain here, I once had the opportunity to spend 3 nights as a guest in a monastery, not Trappist, in Germany. Having had that rather eye-opening experience with a lifestyle and way of thinking about the world completely foreign to me (as a non-Catholic and as an active, engaged participant in the world around me). So I simply do not accept that the motivation of the Abbots and monks involved in forming the Trappist organization had to do with protecting market share. (Especially when there was already more market demand for their particular beers than the monks were willing to try and satisfy. Their market share was/is safe whether the certification is in place or not.)

So we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.

 

I have thought that some of my clearest thinking at the time was perfect.

 

Slightly cynical? Slightly cynical? My friend I've been called a good many things without the modifier slightly being used.

 

Hmmm, seems you've mellowed with retirement. :-)

 

Good beer helps.

 

This is where your argument falls apart. Flashy packaging and your opinion on what is good or a "watery joke" is the most subjective assessment I have seen proposed. Plenty of flashy and perhaps non watery jokes fall fully under the "craft umbrella."

And some sort of designation on my Ayinger???

 

I see what your are saying but your are trying to define a subjective topic beyond what the BA has attempted to do (albeit still controversial). I guess it would be hard for me to truly try and differentiate for the consumer a difference between things like Lagunitas which have fallen off that list from other larger craft like SN. If you're trying to "protect" or "alert" the consumer, you really aren't. A windmill not worth tilting.

 

I am unaware of any such "attack".
Just because inbev wants to remain competitive, and chooses to do so by investing in smaller breweries or producing smaller batches of 'new' brands to label as 'craft' brewed, does not mean they are 'attacking' any more than their market share already does.
I like good beer. If miller wants to make some, great.
For example, it is disingenuous to complain about 'that great beer' one has been enjoying, just because one feels duped into having bought it from anheuser.

 

I can get behind that sentiment, but don't be fooled. The little guys brewing down the street knew exactly what they got themselves into and supporting them is similar to, and as simple, as supporting your neighborhood pub or restaurant by passing by the chains. Go to the local breweries you enjoy and buy their beer. Go to your favorite liquor store and buy your favorite beer. Tell your friends to do the same.
Enjoy!

 

Interesting writing. The point stands: if you like it buy it and enjoy, if you don't like it go somewhere else. The only way for consumers to ensure that somewhere else exists is to spend or refrain from spending money. The brewer down the street still has to make a good product.
Thank you, @AZBeerDude72 for helping to increase our knowledge.

 

There's a place for designations but something as broad as craft beer is not one of them. German beer laws set aside a particular set of beverages. The "Trappist" definition sets aside a particular set of breweries. But there is no such thing as "real" craft beer.

 

Some people need to learn critical reading and thinking skills. This article is intentionally hyperventilating (phrases like "corporate overlords" and "sell out" should be a red flag this is not objective journalism) and is filled with what is charitably called half truths (or, unless the author is an idiot, outright lies), starting with the first sentence:

"When the massive Anheuser-Busch InBev-SABMiller merger is complete, the resulting company will own over 400 beer labels, including 8 out of America’s top 10 brands. "​

No, it won't. In fact, AB-Inbev will hardly own ANY more brands in the US market than it does now.

The article's point about distribution is about the only legitimate one, IMO. The rest is mostly just business, not evil in action.

The fact is, the AB-Inbev-SAB Miller merger has nothing to do with the American market.