Brewers Association Board Proposes New Craft Brewer Definition

On one hand, I see an industry organization doing what they're supposed to do: look out for the best interests of their members.

On the other hand, perhaps this organization has, ahem, fluid, ethics.

All this is way above my paygrade.

 

Quite a coincidence...like the last time they changed the amount of barrels a brewery could produce in order to accomadate BBC’s increasing numbers.

 

The beer world, and the beverage world in general, are changing as the demographics and popular tastes of beer and alcoholic beverage drinkers in general are changing.

Brewers and organizations who ignore change or fail to recognize and deal with that change will also begin to fail...

Just as the big craft brewers have been adapting/changing so too should an organization that represents all craft brewers change. The.BA have been a bit late to the game on this one.

 

I began ignoring the BA several years ago. As I learned more about the organization I grew tired of their rhetoric of 'us v. them' in the beer world. They seem to regularly change who belongs to each category to suit their own whims. For instance Yuengling (which I have enjoyed for years) was part of 'them' until BA deemed them 'us', yet Yuengling changed nothing about their products or the way they do business. BA just wanted to increase the % of 'us' being sold so Yuengling became 'kosher'.

I drink whatever I like from whatever producer I like. If the fact that I enjoy products from both 'us' and 'them' makes me part of the evil 'them' empire I really don't care.

 

The BA is a joke. Full stop.

 

Well, it has been a number of years (4?) since the BA once again changed the definition of a craft brewer so I suppose it is now due for another change.

I can't wait to see what they do in another few years.

The only constant is change?

Cheers!

 

Nobody's saying that brewers shouldn't make other beverages besides beer. If they think that it will enhance the profitability of their business, then they should certainly consider it. However, if by doing so that disqualifies them from having certain labels, then they should take that into consideration, too, instead of lobbying for a change of the definition of said label.

Look for BBC to receive a minority investment of over 25%, causing the BA to move that goalpost as well.

 

BA has made 3 or 4 changes to keep Boston Beer in their scope.

 

Honest question: does any of this affect consumers in any way?

 

I know Brewer's Association tracks various statistics that help their members and others follow what was happening in the industry. Years ago it made sense to separate "craft" beer from "non-craft" beer for statistical purposes; even if the line of separation had some fuzziness then it was a close enough approximation of the real market to have statistical meaning. It was a good metric. But today, the line between craft and non-craft is so much less clear, which makes the dataset less clear or uncertain. When statistics are generated based on unclear data the results are also unclear....garbage in, garbage out. The BA is trying to keep up with the times by refining their definition, but it feels desperate, somewhat manipulative/self-serving to keep showing growth of "craft" beer, and partial to special interests (like Boston Beer Co.). Also, when the rules of statistical dataset change through time, comparing the statistics through time is more difficult.

It seems to me best way the BA could keep up with the times is by letting go of this increasingly unclear concept of craft beer, or at least deemphasize it. For industry folks (i.e. people like the BA's members) who are trying to understand what's happening in the industry, craft vs. non-craft is not a very valuable statistic any more, but there's still plenty of other ways to organize data that would be useful to industry. The BA needs to focus more on that and not hang their credibility on this shifting definition of "craft".

^^ Keeping in mind that I'm just a simple consumer and not an industry insider by any means. This is just the perspective I have from my proverbial armchair.

 

People want transparency. This move by the BA is less than that.

Agreed.

 

It appears to me that in one aspect they are de-emphasizing the terminology of "craft brewery" by emphasizing the terminology of "Independent" via their Independent Seal initiative. Do you view this as a positive step or is it just another manifestation of GIGO?

Cheers!

 

Hmmm...I think this is at least a minimally positive, if still arbitrary. It's still somewhat confusing since they had to go throw a percentage ownership in there and it rests on the false proposition of the shakey (arbitrary?) "craft" definition to begin with. It is not really helping, in my opinion, as it is right now. It's not aiding the consumer who wants transparency - oh yeah, they are independent except for that percentage owned by Big Old XYZ. Ditch the meaningless word "craft" and just have it as "independent" and have it mean just that with no further interpretation of perfectly understandable words.

Or just forget about the whole thing. Opinions differ anyway, and quite a bit by what I read here. Some people are dialed up to 11 about ABV or MillerCoors or private equity owning another brewery or even a portion of one. Some people don't care at all, and most are probably somewhere in the middle. So - is it really important, useful information? To some consumers, the independent designation carries significant meaning. Yuengling (or BBC or SN) produces a gazillion barrels - buy yay they are independent? Does the volume even matter?

I was thinking as I read this thread - what would be more useful to me? I can find brewing capacity information elsewhere or reason it out for myself. Useful, for those who want to know, would be knowing who owns whom. Not some number from a hat production volume that seems self-serving to the BA. How hard is it to figure out that a farm brewery with a 5-10 bbl system is making less volume than even a small-sized regional or decent sized local, never mind a brewery with national/international distribution. I can't always figure out the convolutions of who owns what even with businesses I work with frequently at work, let alone in a different industry where I'm a true shopper/consumer/casual observer.

 

They should just do what they mean instead of beating around the bush. Craft beer is that which is not owned, even in part, by ABI or MillerCoors. I don't think any of the other ownership matters to them.

 

I can understand the need to have a living definition and to tweak it in light of some unforeseen innovations (like CBD or THC) in brewing. But cider, mead, seltzer, etc. are not beer. If they're changing the definition to encompass non-beer, then the definition of "brewery" needs changing. And that's silly.

 

I'm going to cop out on this answer because @LeRose already said everything I would...

Ditto.