Craft Beer Industry Concerns - what is and isn't craft beer

[wide eyed and legless]

I think I will stick to calling it artisan cheese Artisan cheeses are aged for months or years even, in some dark cellar or cave mass produced cheese doesn't have that luxury, cheese making has been around a long time even mentioned in the bible, "Blessed are the cheese makers"
Getting back on topic here is a link to Brew dog's views on craft beer and what it is.
https://www.brewdog.com/lowdown/blog/defining-craft-beer

 

[idzy]

vibe, artisan, expansion, margins, brewpub, niche market, popularity, independent, family, marketing, business model, local distribution, profitability, growth, success, culture, economics,

Words used in this thread so far. The interesting thing is that these words have nothing to do with the actual beer itself. They have to do with where the beer is, where it is not, how much it costs, what business produces it, how profitable it is or how much aspiration it has.

I want to add a new one, philosophy. The philosophy of making good quality beer. That is what sets craft beer apart and the reason people drink it. People want flavour, variety and quality. By having a good philosophy, you will achieve this end and be known as a craft brewer. If your philosophy is anything else, you will be found out, tried, tested and shunned.

EDIT: Grammar

 

[Dave70]

Maby better off re naming this the bogged down in semantics thread then.

 

[Feldon]

The contemporary notion of 'craftmanship' has its roots in the Arts and Crafts movement which kicked off in Britain in the 1880s. It was driven by early British socialists who saw the worker being a slave to machinery, creatively detached from the products they were producing. Arts and Crafts guilds and societies sprang up to train men in the crafts of their forefathers and employ them in collective workshops where they and designers worked in unison. They produced things such as furniture, ceramics, jewellery and wrought iron ware as well as dabbled in architecture. World War I blew the whole ideal apart and by the 1930s Modernism took its place, but its philosophy still lives on.

Plenty about it on the internet to read. A good place to start is the entry for Charles Ashbee at Wikipedia.

Its a challenging concept. The idea of being a slave to machinery is something to keep in mind next time you turn on your PID.

 

[Dave70]

The contemporary notion of 'craftmanship' has its roots in the Arts and Crafts movement which kicked off in Britain in the 1880s. It was driven by early British socialists who saw the worker being a slave to machinery, creatively detached from the products they were producing. Arts and Crafts guilds and societies sprang up to train men in the crafts of their forefathers and employ them in collective workshops where they and designers worked in unison. They produced things such as furniture, ceramics, jewellery and wrought iron ware as well as dabbled in architecture. World War I blew the whole ideal apart and by the 1930s Modernism took its place, but its philosophy still lives on.

Plenty about it on the internet to read. A good place to start is the entry for Charles Ashbee at Wikipedia.

Its a challenging concept. The idea of being a slave to machinery is something to keep in mind next time you turn on your PID.

Don't suppose you caught that show that traced the history of automaton on fox last night from its roots from watchmaking, clockwork analogs to the point where the power loom replaced traditional weaving?
The Luddites never had a chance.

Yes sorry. OT.

 

[TheWiggman]

Say I'm the owner of a craft brewery (whatever that is) due to my quality beer philosophy, which isn't a bad concept raised by idzy. I have my range of ales, dark and big beers. Everything's written on chalkboards and there are pictures of the brewing process, which as far as I'm aware is what constitutes craft brewing.
If I'm impassioned to create a CUB-alike using PoR, white sugarz, JW pils and filter it so it's brighter than the sun, am I creating a craft beer? Am I no longer a craft brewer? Because I would create something like that in the interests of pleasing the punters who aren't too fond of pumpkin ales and IIPAs, and to be honest I would be very proud to put out a beer that keeps mega swill drinkers happy. I'd argue it's good quality beer.
Back to my mushroom to ponder...

 

[Feldon]

Don't suppose you caught that show that traced the history of automaton on fox last night from its roots from watchmaking, clockwork analogs to the point where the power loom replaced traditional weaving?
The Luddites never had a chance.

Yes sorry. OT.

No didn't see it. But I've always had a soft spot for the Luddites. They've often got a bad press, especially since the 1950s when the world started worshiping 'progress'. (Yeah, knock down that old building and put up a concrete and glass tower, its progress!).

 

[idzy]

Say I'm the owner of a craft brewery (whatever that is) due to my quality beer philosophy, which isn't a bad concept raised by idzy. I have my range of ales, dark and big beers. Everything's written on chalkboards and there are pictures of the brewing process, which as far as I'm aware is what constitutes craft brewing.
If I'm impassioned to create a CUB-alike using PoR, white sugarz, JW pils and filter it so it's brighter than the sun, am I creating a craft beer? Am I no longer a craft brewer? Because I would create something like that in the interests of pleasing the punters who aren't too fond of pumpkin ales and IIPAs, and to be honest I would be very proud to put out a beer that keeps mega swill drinkers happy. I'd argue it's good quality beer.
Back to my mushroom to ponder...

Preying on appealing to the punters and mega swill drinkers is what the global corps do. They are more focused on marketing their cheap sub-standard product that is made will those same types of ingredients. In their own right, there is nothing wrong with PoR (can't believe I just said that), JW Pils and filtering. The point that would be made is that there are much better tasting lagers that can be made than what they do.

 

[GalBrew]

In their own right, there is nothing wrong with PoR (can't believe I just said that), JW Pils and filtering. The point that would be made is that there are much better tasting lagers that can be made.

To be fair that is a subjective assessment of flavour. So long as the beer is made well with appropriate ingredients (which JW pils is for style I guess), fermented well and lagered appropriately then that is 'craft' right?

 

[idzy]

To be fair that is a subjective assessment of flavour. So long as the beer is made well with appropriate ingredients (which JW pils is for style I guess), fermented well and lagered appropriately then that is 'craft' right?

Precisely what I said. The philosophy of making good quality beer. That is what sets craft beer apart and the reason people drink it. People want flavour, variety and quality.

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

Visit the US. The top ten craft guys have breweries bigger than little creatures Geelong- maybe bugger than some CUB places - many of them have two facilities east and west coast. They're huge, but still craft.

 

[MichaelM]

One could argue that the philosophy of manufacturers of mass produced beer also have the philosophy of making quality beer that uses the best ingredients albeit for the consumer who only knows or prefers pale fizzy lagers. After all if they failed in making a quality product they wouldn't be doing so well. So in terms of philosophy there would need to be a differentiation beyond quality and variety, though they are important. Something that mass marketed beer manufacturers can't offer.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

An excellent response to the Brewdog question of a craft brewery.This also applies here.

Thanks for trying to make sense of this mess. However, I'm now beginning to feel that it’s too late to work out what we are really talking about, 'craft beer'/'craft brewery' have become marketing terms. For example – do any of these really come from a ‘craft brewery’?• Marston's Revisionist Craft Lager (4%),• Fuller's new lager, Frontier (4.5%), promoted as a: 'new wave craft lager' • Brains with their 'craft brewery' and (bottled) IPA • Greene King (Morland): 'Old Crafty Hen' .......No-one knows what ‘carft brewery’ really means .... no matter how good a definition is worked out, the confusion will continue ..... ‘craft’ is now a marketing term. Hopefully, in the UK, we will return to the use of clear definitions: cask conditioned beer, keg …… and stop using meaningless terms such as ‘craft beer.’

 

[Danscraftbeer]

My take = $0.02. Beer is the craft.
Megaswill commercial beer dominates the conception of beer over most of the population. That massive influence on a small square in the realm of beer. Step outside the square more into the realm of the enormously broad range. There is a beer out there for every person including those who say "ew I don't like beer".

Though that enormous broad range is a very small square on the commercial market. Basically unobtainable. Hence home brew. :chug:

 

[Kingy]

I havnt read the hole thread but when a brewery gets brought out like mountain goat is it still crafty.

 

[spog]

The contemporary notion of 'craftmanship' has its roots in the Arts and Crafts movement which kicked off in Britain in the 1880s. It was driven by early British socialists who saw the worker being a slave to machinery, creatively detached from the products they were producing. Arts and Crafts guilds and societies sprang up to train men in the crafts of their forefathers and employ them in collective workshops where they and designers worked in unison. They produced things such as furniture, ceramics, jewellery and wrought iron ware as well as dabbled in architecture. World War I blew the whole ideal apart and by the 1930s Modernism took its place, but its philosophy still lives on.

Plenty about it on the internet to read. A good place to start is the entry for Charles Ashbee at Wikipedia.

Its a challenging concept. The idea of being a slave to machinery is something to keep in mind next time you turn on your PID.

I have a nice piece of " trench art " my Grandpa brought back from the trenches of WW 1 and a piece given to my Norwegien Grandma by a Russian PoW as thanks for her help,both inventive and priceless for what they are.
Hand made IS art,hand made IS craft. A skill sadly lacking in today's expectant society......until you find IT !

 

[Danscraftbeer]

I have a nice piece of " trench art " my Grandpa brought back from the trenches of WW 1 and a piece given to my Norwegien Grandma by a Russian PoW as thanks for her help,both inventive and priceless for what they are.
Hand made IS art,hand made IS craft. A skill sadly lacking in today's expectant society......until you find IT !

Please consider readers of all kind. I myself don't know what you refer to as IS craft? :unsure:
I'm a common dumbarse that gets easily confused with abbreviations etc.

 

[Droopy Brew]

IF it doesnt contain at least dried macaroni, clag glue and either gold or silver paint, Im sorry it isnt craft AFAIC

 

[spog]

Please consider readers of all kind. I myself don't know what you refer to as IS craft? :unsure:
I'm a common dumbarse that gets easily confused with abbreviations etc.

#107 was what I was referring to, O T .

 

[idzy]

One could argue that the philosophy of manufacturers of mass produced beer also have the philosophy of making quality beer that uses the best ingredients albeit for the consumer who only knows or prefers pale fizzy lagers. After all if they failed in making a quality product they wouldn't be doing so well. So in terms of philosophy there would need to be a differentiation beyond quality and variety, though they are important. Something that mass marketed beer manufacturers can't offer.

This is to suppose that they are making a quality product because they are doing well. This is to say that there are not products in the market that are sold at scale. I think even you would agree Michael, that this is simply not the case and therefore your argument doesn't stand.

The manufacturers focus on making the largest volume of beer for as cheap as possible, whilst maintaining some level of quality yes, flavour is subjective, but most would agree no and variety most would agree no. To a large extent the mass marketed mass produced lagers taste near on the same, using rice/corn, pils, pride of ringwood, super alpha and sugar.


Craftbrewing is the philosophy of making good quality beer. That is what sets craft beer apart and the reason people drink it. People want flavour, variety and quality.