Do you Seek the Seal?

I don't look for it, but I'm pleased when it's on my most recent purchase.

 

I do seek the seal, but it’s only 1 factor in my buying decisions. All things being equal, I’ll buy the beer with the seal, but I’m not going to sacrifice quality to support the seal. I do avoid all ABInBev products regardless of quality.

 

I’ve been active on this site for a long time and somehow missed reading about the seal and have definitely never noticed it. Most of my beer buying is from local breweries anyway so it won’t make me seek out the seal. I know the breweries I like. Don’t need it.

 

Is that still a thing?

 

I'm happy to drink local / independent beer and do much of the time but it's not why I buy a beer

Right now it's Octoberfest, I'm not going to avoid German imported beers for instance

 

Don’t go out of my way, but I enjoy supporting the local independents. They reward me with brewing (most of the time) good, enjoyable beer!

 

Lots of replies, and haven’t read them, but I will chime in with my opinion.

I am so beer-educated that the seal means nothing to me. Also, the lines are blurred way more now than, say, in 2013 when I might have actually looked for the label. Back then, when you said “I drink craft,” it meant something. Now adays there are so many breweries, everyone pretty much “drinks craft”.

All this said, I don’t care about local beer, I just care about quality. I will gladly buy A nationally available beer over a local beer if the local beer is not as good (to me). I don’t support breweries because they are local, I support them if they are (1) as good as the alternative, (2) competitively priced for what it is, and (3) I am in the mood for it. I won’t pay $5 for a local BA stout if it isn’t as good as something I have in my cellar that is of comparable “$5 beer quality”.

 

I don't buy AB InBev. If there was a seal for that, I'd seek it out. Otherwise, I don't care.

 

No I do no look for it nor do I care for it personally. If we are talking about seals then an authentic Trappist seal has a way more meaning and gravity then an independent brewers seal to me.

 

I feel like we just had this conversation about whether independent and/or craft matters in another thread about a month ago. It's kind of an ongoing conversation, sure. I wholeheartedly admit I was wrong in my assessment in that thread at a couple of points.

The main take-away is that independent or craft labels doesn't mean shit if the beer sucks.

95% of my beer buying power goes to supporting my local breweries (within 50 miles) that are independent and crank out delicious beer worth my time. Most of the rest goes to getting equally well-made beer shipped to me directly or buying from a local store that carries those that are much further away in CA or out of state.

The seal matters little to me because I buy independent/support local already.

The issue with some people lies in the definition of the word "independent" as the goal posts move continuously and don't necessarily encompass what a lot of niche craft beer drinkers and the BeerAdvocate community would consider "independent."

As a buyer, I don't have any real data to see if the "Seek The Seal" campaign has had any affect on the beer buying public at my store. That's actually data I'd love to have.

I will say, I've never once had someone go "Is this certified independent?" when looking for a beer recommendation. The conversation has always been founded on the basis of "What do you think of this beer?", "Is this beer good?" or "What would you recommend?" I tool my recommendations/suggestions based on what the person is looking for, what I know of the local landscape and my knowledge of the products/style.

 

No and I may go to hell, but I try to reduce the stress in my life by not watching the news, avoiding Big Beer threads and not getting caught up in neighborhood bullshit. So I just pretty much drink what I want. Now fortunately almost 80% is craft, but Mexican food needs Bohemia/Negra Modelo and for the life of me I am down for anything Lagunitas pumps out.

 

I don’t care about the seal, but I do check date codes

 

I don’t, although a good deal of what I buy happens to have the seal.

I disagree with the messaging of the article. I’m sure as many of you are aware, there’s plenty of local breweries that don’t sport the seal.

Does that make them any less “craft” or “independent”?

For me personally, if a brewery wants to adopt that seal and sport it on their cans and merch to support independent brewers, I’m cool with that. At the end of the day, I’m buying quality. I’m buying what I want. It has nothing to do with who the BA certifies as “independent”.

 

I don't specifically seek it out. Most of what I prefer to drink will be based on what I want to try, seal or not.

 

They put date codes on the beer in Texas? I guess that’s one more reason to move there.

 

The seal has value in that it helps to identify and bind like minded brewers and consumers in a coalition to promote business and government practices toward a common purpose.

Nothing calls them to be 100% in agreement, on the issues or the positions. Just like so many other common causes, if the net effect positively outweighs the effort, according to the collective participants, then we all likely benefit.

As for me, I applaud their efforts in an ignorant expectation that they can only continue to be a meaningful force so long as the active participants agree that they continue to provide a net positive impact, for themselves and the consumers.

No, I do not seek out the label. Yes, the overwhelming majority of beer I purchase has the label. In other words, I support what I feel is good beer and good practice, with no delusions of knowledge about the actual business of beer. When either of these qualities falls short, I take whatever actions seem to make sense to me. So far those actions have rarely exceeded choice of purchase. (And yes, agreement and self-regulation of date coding would be a welcome addition to their cause.)

To the extent my actions support their goals, great. However, I chose my own and see no reason to fault others simply based on their choice relative to participation in the coalition.

 

Well, since this thread is about the BA seal on the bottle or can, how does one judge "quality" before the purchase of an unfamiliar or new brand of beer simply by looking at the label? If one is concerned with aspects like local, small or independent (of the multi-national macro brewers) of the beer they buy, then this seal is helpful but nowhere does the Brewers Association imply the beer is of a better "quality" - itself a rather amorphous term when it comes to beer, since for many it seems to be defined as "stuff I like".

You don't see date coded beer in Michigan? The larger MI breweries' beers that I see on the shelves (Bell's, Founders) are dated as are many of the local and most of the regional brewers' beers sold at the retail level that I see.

 

At this point, I buy 99.9% of my beer directly from independent craft breweries, so the seal doesn't matter to me.

 

I don't look for the seal. I know I have seen it, and would assume it was on many of the beers I buy, but I just checked the empties' bin in my office and of the first five breweries I pulled (North Coast, Hubbard's Cave, Tree House, Oscar Blues, Boulevard) none had a seal I could find. I would guess Boulevard does not qualify as an independent craft brewer, but unsure about the others.

98% of my purchases are imperial stouts and I am (generally) very limited in my options. If I was an IPA drinker I could see the seal influencing my purchases (at least a little).