When was "micro brew" renamed "craft beer"?

It is according to Feds - listed by the TTB as a "MALT BEVERAGES SPECIALITIES - FLAVORED" (malt beverage being the legal term for all beers in the US).

But it's not according to the Brewers Association "Flavored malt beverages are not considered beer for purposes of this definition (of a "'craft brewer')."

 

I told him that for years now.

 

Ah, but the latter are all INNOVATIVE and corn and rice aren't (at least, not since the mid-19th century) and there are few things that are more important to the modern beer geekster than INNOVATION. Well, RARE probably tops it...

 

I'm sure our ancestors used these things-they probably also dropped the odd dead dog in and certainly a chicken or two. Whether this amounted to craft brewing or not is a different matter.

 

Yes, what was once desperation (for fermentables) is now seen as innovation...

 

Thanks for the info, but I still think the core point stands - they're not trying to advertise/promote it as a quality flavorful craft beer. It's a raspberry tea alcohol drink. Nobody is confused about that, or well... unless someone is desperately trying to make an anti-Sam Adams argument for some other reason.

 

For what it is worth, below is something I posted on the Goose Island Craft Brewery thread:

Classifying a brewery as being craft or not is a bit tricky since their does not appear to be an unambiguous definition of a craft brewery.

For example, bulletrain76 states: “Craft doesn't mean good, it just means small and independent”.

For me the word “craft” corresponds to the number 1 definition provided by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary:

“Craft: skill in planning, making, or executing”

So, to me “skill in making” implies that a quality product is being produced.

Unfortunately the word “quality” also has ambiguity involved with it. It could very well be argued that the BMC breweries make “quality” beer in that their beers are extremely consistent from batch to batch. They are also excellent at creating light tasting beers with little to no off-flavors.

Well, for me a “quality” beer is a tasty beer. I think Goose Island makes tasty beers. Consequently I am of the opinion that Goose Island is a craft brewery and they make craft beers.

Cheers!

P.S. “It depends on what the meaning of the word “is” is.”

 

So, a US brewery making a traditional German or Czech style pilsner, using European grains and hops and traditional Decoction brewing method and long cold fermention and lagering isn't "craft beer"? Nothing experimental or unique there.

That definition you've quoted does not fit any of the established usages for the past 30+ years (when "microbrewery" was first being defined as under 10,000 bbl./yr-later moved to 15k) in the industry press or the beer books and magazines aimed at the consumer market.

It's closer to (at least) 20 years. Here's what the Institute for Brewing Studies (which evolved into today's Brewers Association after merger with the old Brewers Association of America) wrote in 1995:

"Now that 'microbrew' is a household word, many breweries that produce these beers have​

exceeded the 'micro' definition. 'Microbrew,' in its current usage, refers more often to a​

market segment than it does to a brewery size. For this reason, the IBS now uses the​

term 'craft-brewing industry' to the entire group of companies established to brew and sell​

full-flavored, specialty beers." ---Brewers Resource Directory, IBS​

​

The Brewers Association was probably the primary influence to change the terminology but many writers began using it, too, in both the beer publications and the general press. Checking my old files, I found an AP story from '87 and a NY Times story from '88 that used the term.

 

To consider Twisted Tea to be a Sam Adams product just because it's owned by Boston Beer Co is just stupid.

 

"Denial ain't just a river in Egypt." Just keep drinking the Kool-Aid, or in this case .....

 

Well, lots of people erroneously call the Boston Beer Co. "Sam Adams" - just as they often call Anheuser-Busch "Budweiser" (see for instance the popular BA "BMC" abbreviation which means all the products of the Big Two for many people).

In the case of Twisted Tea, the TTB COLA's are all made out by BBC with the name and address of the applicant listed as:

SAMUEL ADAMS BREWERY COMPANY, LTD.​

1625 CENTRAL PKWY​

CINCINNATI OH 45214​

​

TWISTED TEA BREWING COMPANY (Used on label)​

​

​

So, Tolar111 was obviously referring to the Cinci brewery when he wrote "Sam Adams'" above...

(BBC uses a similar name for their PA brewery - "The Samuel Adams Pennsylvania Brewery" - both of which are run as subsidiaries of BBC. I guess they felt strange putting a big "BOSTON BEER CO." sign in Cincinnati and outside Allentown, PA).

In addition, BBC considers their ciders and FMB's "core products"-

​

"Boston Beer’s “core brands” include all products sold under the Samuel Adams®, Sam Adams», Twisted Tea® and HardCore® trademarks." --- BBC 2010 Annual Report​

 

To me, craft describes a brewery that makes a variety of historic and/or experimental styles of beer that are all heavy on flavor. This would separate a brewery that makes, for example, American Adjunct lager, American Adjunct light lager, American Adjunct low-calorie lager yadayadayada from a brewery that makes IPAs, Stouts, Pilsners, Lambics, etc etc.

"You can't quantify it. It's like any other artform - it's highly subjective, but anyone with a certain baseline of knowledge/experience with the artform knows good vs bad when they hear/see/taste it"

That's also true. Much like the famous comment from Supreme Court Justice Stewart about pornography, "It's hard to define but I know it when I see it" most BAs would say they know craft when they taste it.

 

Nine years after Potter Stewart made that statement he sided with the majority opinion in Miller v. California, effectively recanting that statement in favor of the "Miller Test", which is defined as methodology of the classification of whether or not material is to be deemed as obscene.

I propose a craft beer "Miller Test", as methodology of the classification of whether or not beer is to be deemed craft or not.

Probably need to change the name of the test, it could get confusing otherwise.

 

Hmm sometimes I still use the term Micros.

 

I've come to hate the term "craft" in regards to beer. I'm trying to alter myself to say "I like Good Beer." And by that I mean beer I like to drink, regardless of the size, location, leadership structure, naming conventions, materials, brewing processes of the person/company/etc brewing the beer.

Craft, in my opinion, is a biased term, used to support an us-vs-them mentality, and really has little meaning in regards to the quality/style/flavor of the beers being labeled as such.

 

Yeah even though I don't care for the term "craft beer", it still is a useful advertising term. I just always say good beer.

 

Micros became craft when Boston Beer Co. got big enough.

 

It's interesting to hear this history, cause I still find myself in the micro macro mindset to this day. I always thought it came from Sam way back in the day at Dogfish Head, cause I remember the sign he had under his logo many years ago (and still is today) that said...

"Craft Brewed Ales"

I always thought that's where it came from, and if perhaps not the first it's always a pleasant memory...

Either way... I don't care... I am done with the "us vs. them" and good beer stands out no matter who it's from.

 

The only thing I dislike about the term Craft beer is some people say it fast or pronounce it more like "crap" beer. There has to be a better term....