"Does American craft brewing have a quality problem?"

It's funny you mention this because GM, Ford, and Chrysler DID almost implode the entire US auto industry a few years back after years and years of overproducing shitty cars no one wanted to buy (amongst a ton of other issues). Not a direct correlation to the beer industry, but something people 30 years ago probably thought unimaginable. That said, it doesn't seem totally out of the realm of possibility that enough bad beer can hurt the overall industry--something the biggest players obviously want to guard against and have the most interest in preventing.

 

In this era of craft beer it is difficult to fail, even if you make poor beer and run a poor business operation. Some folks are capitalizing on that and trying to make a few bucks despite having no passion for craft beer. Other have passion, but don't have the skillset to run a business or maintain quality beer. And other new breweries are fully capable of both and will succeed in the long run. Paul's comments pointed out that is it troubling that many home brew hobbyists with a retirement fund think they can start their own brewery because it is a booming industry and they have an "all my friends love my beer" attitude.

Is it cause for concern to the industry as a whole? I doubt it. As more breweries pop up and established breweries expand, there will soon be no room to make sub par beer or run a sub par business.

As a brewery owner myself, I can assure that it is possible for even small breweries to keep quality control at a respectable level. Do we all have $1,000,000 labs? No, but we aren't expected to.

 

But they're still here.

 

After rereading this article, I'm bothered by the fact that part of his CBC speech was devoted to this. Every industry has crappy companies and good companies. There are bad restaurants and good ones, bad tech companies and good ones. This isn't an issue that is going to have an impact on craft. It won't impact sales. People wont migrate en masse because of some bad breweries. People are too oblivious. Would have been a better forum for the BA to talk about some of the more pressing issues facing craft such as water issues, crop yields and prices, as well as a better and more fair tax system for small breweries. Crappy craft beer isn't the problem that should be on the BA's radar

 

Well said. Todd. I can't agree more. We have assumed Craft equals quality. When not everyone can produce what another can.

 

Thanks for the link in your earlier post. Some important information there that is useful in thinking about the issues raised in and by this thread. And in the context of those figures there are, as you point out, more pressing threats to the industry and beer in general than a start up producing a beer with what is widely thought among pros, wanna-bes, and amateur experts to be too much diacetyl for the style.

The wine folks survived the era when jug wine was the norm for US wine. Despite the fact some start ups made poor wines, they thrived to the point that some US-made wines can and do show well against what were once considered the best in the world. US brewers in general can and have been moving well beyond industrial, mass market beer and some are clearly closing in on being part of "best in the world." But water issues, crop yields, prices, taxes, and (I would add) sustainability are much bigger issues/threats than diacetyl.

 

Brewmaster Matt Brynildson from Firestone Walker suggests otherwise. Unless you feel the folks at Firestone don't know what they're talking about.

“Pivo Hoppy Pils is a brewer’s beer,” Brynildson says. “At the big beer events, after all the hoopla is over, it is typical for a few of us brewmasters to meet afterward at some bar down the street, and we all order pilsner beers to clean the palate. It’s like a razor that scrapes all the double IPAs off our tongues.”

He adds, “Pilsner is one of the most difficult beers to perfect. It seems so simple and commonplace in the world. It’s so light, yet it incorporates so much, which is why any off flavor just comes screaming out. It’s this naked beer that doesn’t hide anything.”

 

It is impossible to keep people from doing stupid things. I'd argue greed/speculation alone is not a sustainable strategy in any industry.

The same was true in the dot-com days and the housing bubble. Even crappy products (and in the dot-com example, many times, no products) were able to sell or gain funding. And we didn't stop using tech or being concerned with housing when those bubbles popped. The craft beer bubble (yes, I do believe there is a bubble) is no different.

The BA's comments on this reflect that bubble.

I have no doubt they're scared shitless about when it does, especially since they've embarked on building themselves a fancy new office and if membership dwindles too much, they're boned, having so much new overhead.

Rather than waste time on holier-than-thou "purity tests" of what is 'craft' and what is not, and "talk down" to the fledgling entrepreneurs as to whether they are considered excellent or flawed, I'd prefer the BA spend it's time making ongoing educational opportunities for these new ventures (implicit in Paul's remarks was a contempt for nano-breweries, IMO.) With a waiting list of years for many of the brewing schools, create some alternatives.

You can't keep people from making poor choices. So, educate them.

 

The quality issue (or lack thereof) is tied to the speed at which the industry is growing, which, in turn, is tied to the palates of craft brew fans, which change like the wind.
Breweries have to come up with something new non-stop to keep customers interested. "New", mind you, does not always mean "good", but brewers cannot afford to simply allow the spotlight to drift elsewhere. I sympathize with brewers, and this is part of the reason we continue to see limited availability on beers, as brewers simply cannot allow their product to be considered yesterday's beer by being available all the time. However, this leads to distribution nightmares and retailers like myself have to sacrifice small children and oxen to get ahold the latest, greatest beer or limited release or seasonal sometimes. It is a great time to be a beer drinker, a great time to be a start-up brewery, but very challenging to get every product for sale or be a brewery (like Dogfish Head, etc.) that has been around for awhile and scrambling for something to move that spotlight back to them.

 

Perhaps I'm doing a poor job of explaining myself. No, you don't need to explain to me those differences, it's also NOT what I'm talking about in my post(s).

Let's simplify it. I'll ask you a question. Do you feel there's a quality issue with IPAs? Look at the ratings for the double IPA, you'd have to go very far down that list to find something even rated average. I can stroll into any decent liquor store, and assuming freshness, it's going to be at least a good IPA, if not very good to world class.

IPA is also the most popular craft style. That's a fact. If I'm a consumer I do not perceive a quality issue among craft beer.

I've had the pleasure of meeting multiple brewers from breweries of all sizes. I've also had the pleasure of meeting experienced craft beer enthusiasts who have been in the game for decades. The common theme is that the IPA is not their favorite style, and many prefer something more subtle. See the Firestone Walker quotation in my post above. At the Craft Brewer's Conference (and in Todd's post), NOT IN THE ARTICLE, it was clear quality was their main concern. Let's leave out the part about IPAs being harder to brew than a pilsner. Here's the opinion part....I believe this is a lack of quality in other styles. And this is why I believe craft beer is still booming, and craft brewers for years have believed there is an increasing quality issue.

 

Amen. The bigger issue for the industry is making people who say "I don't like beer" understand that 90% of the beer sold in the U.S. is just one style of beer amid a plethora of choices, and convince them to try something else.

 

For example, the speech could have been about why it was in their own self interest for each well established successful brewery to take the time and trouble to create (or extend their efforts with) an "internship" program where they identify and bring promising, motivated inexperienced wanna-be brewers into their operation for education and On the Job Training. How many of the top 50 have something in place like the Sam Adams sponsored "Brewing the American Dream," or the Sierra Nevada Summber Camp?

 

Well, a good number of the professionals commented on how they tried to be constructive in their criticism, but were met with responses such as, "My beer's awesome." or "If it's good enough for me and my customers, what's the problem?" In other words, the education is there and on offer, but is increasingly being ignored.

 

Precisely! But you forgot to add "while drinking a traditional, well-crafted beer."

 

Yeah- that's the way a lot of the article read: trying to open some eyes and let them know about what sort of assistance is out there:

and the best advice of all-

 

As we've been told many times in this thread a fundamental root source of the perceived problem is that the growth is faster than the brewing schools and academic programs can support by graduating people with even basic training. So if lack of education is the root source of the problem you create alternatives for those who want and are willing to learn.

But since the pros would not be admitting such as you describe to their internship program (if only because such folks would not bother to apply) the education would be there for those willing to learn.

Edit: Its also the case that such internship programs can be one of your best sources for identifying new folks you want on your team (which is also changing over time).

 

Bacchus is brewing their own now? Wow, I practically lived in that place from '98 to '01. Any time I'm in NP we make it a point to have breaky, a bloody and a dark beer before we leave.
The coffeehouse you're referring to is around the corner on Main across from the Bistro? The Brauhaus is at the end of 299 at 44/55? Haha, sorry for all the questions, but that is a great area to live. I loved if around there.

 

I think people are ridiculous.

 

But couldn't some of the extremely fast growth be attributed to the fact that more and more brewers are entering the market *before* taking the necessary steps to educate themselves -- preferring instead to believe what they are hearing from their friends and a similarly fast-growing contingent of less-than-educated consumers: namely that their beer is awesome/good-enough-for-me, so what's the problem?

 

I'm not going to pretend like I know what I'm talking about but this is a business and those who

A) refuse to hire the right (ie, qualified) employees
B) refuse to adjust the way they produce their product according to constructive criticism
C) refuse to accurately chart their recipes, properly clean their materials, or, simply, use the right vessels to properly make their product....

Will die a quick death. There are enough established "craft" brewers in this country that this industry is in no danger of any kind of a death. The small brewers, and us the consumer, are the ones with the problem. The small brewer has the bigger problem called sink or swim, or adjust or die and we have the smaller problem of a saturated market which will lead to even higher prices of the more established brewers. And considering they would be selling a superior product with a possible smaller pool of resources to draw from, they would be in the right.

The way I look at it though, the cream will rise, and if a new brewery does it right, can learn on the fly and take quality advice from the people who have been doing it for years, they'll not only have a quality product we'll enjoy, they'll also prosper financially.