What does "craft" actually mean?

For many, 'craft' also seems to imply that the beer will have 'pop' marketing aimed at young men who are interested in loud music or computer games; labels are often cartoonish, use skulls, refer to rock music etc. All this, some might suggest, alienates the more 'sophisticated' beer drinker.

 

I think craft is any human-centric product (e.g. A beer that was designed by a computer algorith doesn't count) where the quality of the finished product is rated as more important that the financials / marketing / etc associated with it.

Part of the issue I think is that there is a distinction between a Craft beer and a Craft brewery.

There is nothing stopping BMC / etc releasing a craft beer if they wish, however there is no way they can be a craft brewery.
On the other hand, your local Microbrewery is definitely a craft brewery, however if they release a crappy adjunct lager purely to push profits, then it is definitely not a craft beer.

 

In other words it's meaningless.Look at the homebrew section and find out how many homebrewers don't use computers and algorithms.Try to find even a small commercial brewery where the work is done by hand.And who has a quality control regimen as strict as the brewers of Budweiser?
As for the financials , if a brewery doesn't get these right it's soon an ex brewery.
Craft is a word which can usually be omitted . "What is your favourite craft beer" to users of this site is simply "What is your favourite beer".........it's as redundant as those annoying posts beginning "So" such as "So I opened a bottle of XYZ" when it would be better to say "I opened a bottle of XYZ"

 

So I definitely agree with you.

It is always interesting to me how many BAs seem to really struggle with this concept. Some people (a lot of them apparently) just truly prefer the lighter flavors of your standard mass produced lager. It doesn't make them bad people. It doesn't make them stupid people. It simply makes them people with different tastes than most of the people on this site. My Mom used to truly love an occasional beer, but she really only liked very light ones such as Michelob Ultra. My Dad always enjoyed just about any beer. He can enjoy Belgian and German beers with the best of them. But his go to beer in his fridge for many years was the simple adjunct lager, Texas Pride.

On the other hand, my wife always hated beer until she tasted a porter in college and became a huge fan of beer, just not BMC style ones.

 

It's not that I struggle with it , he suits himself. From when he was about 4 there was beer and wine (and sometimes cider too) on the dining table , he has been exposed to what I call pretty good stuff all along.It does make the point that drinking macro beers isn't the result of not knowing any better. Some posters seem to think that if you educate people they will become "craft" drinkers.
What I cannot accept though is when he drinks straight from the bottle. My Dad pointed out that a gentleman never drinks from the bottle, it's an even worse crime than wearing a hat indoors.But at least he never does it in my house

 

For example:

 

Just to clarify, I didn't mean you thought that about your son. I only meant that as you were pointing out, some people like those beers and it is not because of ignorance or similar factors. I certainly know people who are ignorant about beer. But I also have known plenty of people who have had other beers and know what they taste like but still prefer something like Budweiser.

 

What I meant by that is that if the recipe is designed by an algorithm, then it's not craft. Not that you can't use computers to help manage recipes etc.

Also, what I meant by financials is that more importance is put on the quality of the beer rather than the profit margins. This doesn't mean that money isn't important (that would be rediculous), but that the brewer would accept 5% less profit if it means that the beer is great rather than good (subjective, I know, but you get the idea).

 

It really doesn't mean anything.

Basically there is beer that you like... and there is beer that your don't.