"Crafty" brewers coming on strong?

I'm not saying it's the best thing, but I'm saying that we benefit from the larger distribution.

 

I pretty much felt the opposite. It was like a rough, unrefined version of SNPA to me, albeit with a slightly lighter malt base. Basically an inexperienced homebrewer's shot at a simple APA. Now I understand where he was coming from at the time and it's not really a bad beer but I definitely think it could be refined and many brewers have taken that basic idea and done just that one the last 30 years.

As far as Audible Ale, ya it's a clean, balanced blonde ale, but it utterly lacks and character or anything interesting, really. It's their attempt at an American macro drinker approved ale and I guess that just doesn't do anything for me.

 

I'm going to dispute some of your "incredibly obvious points"

1) Let's assume that ABI in replaced by 100 smaller regional breweries. The demand for beer is presumably the same, so these 100 breweries will produce the same volume of beer that ABI produces. Are you suggesting that the ingredient production to supply these 100 smaller breweries would be less detrimental to the environment than to supply ABI? If anything I would suggest that, with such a large volume of ingredients, ABI has a significant vested interest in working with their suppliers to make sure these ingredients are produced as efficiently as possible (new crops w/ high yields, efficient harvesting, etc). I would suggest that, the acreage of land required to supply equivalent ingredients to 100 smaller breweries is no less than what is required for ABI, and likely actually takes more land.

2) My argument is similar to 1). I do not find it obvious that the net fossil fuel required to supply to and distribute from 100 smaller breweries would be less than supplying to and distributing from ABI. Again, the net result of ABI vs. 100 smaller breweries is likely that ABI actually uses less fossil fuel due to the ability to receive and supply key locations in bulk.

3) A tasty IPA at 4.99/6pk sounds fantastic. Are implying that it doesn't? It's common sense that people want more product for less money. Would a 4.99/6pk of Heady, available anytime you wanted, make you unhappy?

I have several reasons for not buying ABI products, but I'm having trouble seeing the logic in your points. Maybe if you assume that every regional brewer grows all the ingredients within 100 miles and sells within 100 miles, some of the points about fossil fuels may begin to make sense. But a craft brewer who wants region-specific hops and barley has to have them shipped from that region just like ABI.

 

That looks to have 3 zeros missing.

 

Maybe I'm too the late to the party. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale set a base line for me. I'm sure there was a time in the early 90s that the new albion flavor profile would've excited me. That ship has sailed a long time ago. Give me a Anchor Steam or SN Pale any day.

 

Put me in the "evil" camp of Kona lovers. I enjoyed their beer when I lived in Hawaii & the versions I get in Missouri are tasty & nicely priced.

 

(When I double-checked Pabst's 2012 barrelage it had been copy/pasted in my files from one of those sites that lists it by the "1,000's of Barrels" and I forgot to "translate" it back into normal format! Thanks.)

 

I bought a 4 pack of these for the cellar after enjoying it very much on tap. I had a 2009 Big Eddy RIS and found it to be quite fuity and enjoyable.

 

I heard great things about the original Big Eddy D-IPA and, even though it's not really my favorite style, I'll gladly give that a try. Even their take on a Scotch Ale was worth at least a single.

P.S. That first Big Eddy RIS impressed the heck out of me when I first tried it on tap!

 

I should have clarified that statement. I wasn't referring to breweries that fit the official definition of "craft". I meant the brands that a lot of the users on this forum won't touch because they are too mainstream or might have "sold out" over the years. Examples of "crafty" breweries - Boston Beer Co, New Belgium, Kona, Goose Island, Redhook, Blue Moon, ect.

These brands and others like them get bashed on these boards a lot. I guess they're too big to be cool in certain hipster beer circles, I don't really know. All I know is there is a few good brews made by each of them and it's silly to avoid the whole brand based on some preconceived notion that they're not "craft" enough.

 

Agreed
And some of these Like Leinenkugels started out independant but were bought. But they still retain their Independance to make quality beers. Just because they are owned by Miller Doesn't Necessitate that their beer gets watered down or Bland.

 

I really like that, "Dressed up in hops blossums and bourbon barrels." You said you'd find a base beer a lot like New Albion, and I actually think you might not. Sam Adams I've found does basic beers quite well. They're not popular styles, so it's frowned upon amongst beer geeks. I'm not so sure a lot of hot new breweries can make these beers. Perhaps the dressing is to hide what's underneath?

These days I find myself drinking beers from the older craft brewers....Sam Adams, Brooklyn, Goose Island (In Bev I know, whatever), Anchor, Sierra Nevada....etc. I can get high quality, no frills (the blossums and bourbon you speak of), basic.....BEER.

Yep, pretty much this. Well put.

 

Don't forget that some "crafty" breweries are mislabeled and are actaully craft breweries as in Schell's. They've been kicking ass lately...though I'm sure Uncle Chuck and the BA still has no idea how they missed the boat about Schell's (nor do they probably care).

 

Yes Youengling's Oktoberfest was surprisingly extremely well made for the style. It seemed to be quickly sold out in many locations around my parts.

 

optifron, thank you for your thoughtful reading of my comments. i made no effort to verify anything i said... it is entirely possible that Budweiser (insert other mega beverage company of your choice) sources from only sustainable farmers, and makes every effort to reduce carbon footprint, whether through more efficient driving routes or using hybrid type vehicles.

Annheiser Busch, has spent a century (or something) creating demand for their product through advertising/marketing... much like Coca-Cola, McDonalds what have you. their market share is so enormous it is hard to imagine what would happen if they disappeared. an incredible Demand for beer would go unmet. would it require 100 small breweries to meet the supply ability of one bud mega-plant? you could look at it that way,

or, maybe that demand could be met by 1000 nano-breweries or 10 midsize breweries. 100 is just an arbitrary number. imho, 10 different midsize breweries sounds like a good start. but obviously i don't really know anything.
no one can contest, if there were say a Town Brewery, it would burn less fossil fuel supplying The Town with beer than the Bud Plant in Fairfield CA delivering the product from Seattle to SLO to Las Vegas to Butte Mo. yes, the demand would require more Town Breweries but each would be a more efficient operation with a much much smaller carbon imprint.

almost ALL the hops come out of washington state. luckily for the non-bud breweries, bud contracts their hops out of europe and i believe idaho. they use enormous quantities of RICE in their 'lager'. Rice is a heavy feeder and is best farmed under strict crop-rotation practices. how does BUD farm their rice? no idea... if they follow good practices kudos to them.

i concede it is basically impossible (currently) to get ingredients for beer pretty much anywhere within 100 miles, regardless of where, but that is changing, more breweries are getting interested in sourcing their own grain and hops directly from the growers. so it is not unthinkable, that as the localvore movement grows, it will be MORE possible in the future.

my basic point was this: i don't support big mega companies because i believe they are bad for everyone. i don't shop at big chain stores or eat at fast food places (ok, twice a year)..... are they good for the people that work for them? maybe. but they contribute to the bad food distribution model that currently rules the land: mass-produced crap made on the cheap that crowds out alternatives and small businesses.

in AB's world, they would make ALL THE BEER. i am not interested in supporting a company whose business model is world market domination. industrialized food production aloud for a prosperous generation of americans to be insanely productive (50s/60s)... it has also f*cked up a lot of land and made millions of people sick.

you see, when you take 500,000 acres (or a million) in say iowa, and put it all into rice to meet the demands of your mega corporation, nothing else happens on those 500k acres. the people in that area (luckily or unluckily there aren't many) don't grow any of the food they need to live on and need to get it from somewhere else. every ACTION has a reACTION ---- the glory of the mega company --- the only thing that matters is how efficiently it gets what it needs to perpetuate itself. the corollary effects of monoculture are never properly accounted for: "we used to grow tomatoes, onions, potatoes, peas and corn... now there is only rice. we get all our other produce frozen from out of state."

 

Apologies to Herrburgess for stoking the fire for the tangent here.

Optifron - Good points. Sometimes I suspect that the notion of economies of scale and related advantages are unknown to some, and the whole "buy local" theme seems to be eerily similar to old agricultural protectionism in some ways. It's as if people are taking philosophy courses on "business ethics" but never took the business and economics courses themselves. The slam dunk is the actual observation of behaviors on the whole - condemning Home Depot or Budweiser but then going to Target or Starbucks or whatever.

 

Yes, but AB and MC still budget huge dollars to advertising everywhere, and it rattles our brains. Most small brewers budget nothing for promotion and largely rely on their wholesaler/distributor for sales energy.

 

I've got to disagree, new Albion ale was just ok and audible was a piece of crap. AC Golden and sandlot are capable of making very good beer, but they are both tiny experimental operations within coors that generally make things that they have no intention of scaling up, or in the case of ac goldens sours, couldn't mass produce even if they wanted to (they use heirloom, locally grown fruits in many of their sours that wouldn't ever be available in sufficient quantity).