Yet Another Contract Brew

[Holgate]

Good to see that all the home brewers are really across the topic of marketing companies masquerading as craft breweries. While this is not always true - some genuinely have plans to start a brewery - I agree with the comment that all these contract brands are not flattering for the craft beer industry. And on that point, it is important to note that we are all referring to these brands as "craft beers" while in fact they are not. The term "craft" should be reserved (how??) for genuine small, independent breweries who genuinely operate their own brewery and use traditional methods and full grain recipes.

In the USA, they have a well established definition list of how companies can call their product or refer to themselves - see the link:

http://www.beertown.org/education/craft_defined.html

A marketing company who owns a brand, but does not operate a brewery nor own an Excise License should not be able to call themselves a brewery. It is mis-leading to consumers who beleive they are buying a cottage industry product and who beleive they can take a drive visit the brewery and chat to the brewer.

Anyhow, that's my 2c and pretty much the 2c of most genuine small breweries who everyday go out back of their operations and through their own blood, sweat and tears knock out a batch of beer - and have no time nor money for large marketing and promotion campaigns. Brings us back to Excise tax relief really, doesn't it ?

Drink Less, Drink Better
Holgate

 

[Polar Beer]

Good to see that all the home brewers are really across the topic of marketing companies masquerading as craft breweries. While this is not always true - some genuinely have plans to start a brewery - I agree with the comment that all these contract brands are not flattering for the craft beer industry. And on that point, it is important to note that we are all referring to these brands as "craft beers" while in fact they are not. The term "craft" should be reserved (how??) for genuine small, independent breweries who genuinely operate their own brewery and use traditional methods and full grain recipes.

Would these contract/craft hybrids benefit from the "A Fair Go for Craft Beer" excise tax releif (if it eventuated)? Or would that only apply to fair dinkum craft brewers?
Seems to me they should be excluded. If they were, that would certianly solve the issue in defining "craft" beer.

 

[devo]

...or maybe they wouldn't need to go "contract" if the excise issue wasn't such a problem any longer?!

 

[Holgate]

Would these contract/craft hybrids benefit from the "A Fair Go for Craft Beer" excise tax releif (if it eventuated)? Or would that only apply to fair dinkum craft brewers?
Seems to me they should be excluded. If they were, that would certianly solve the issue in defining "craft" beer.

Actually the tax relief, following the wine model, would apply to all brewiers big and small. But it only applies for the first XXX litres of beer annually - so for the big guys it applies for the first 2 or 3 days production or the first week or however quick they reach the maximum $500K annual rebate in their excise tax. Really it is small for them, but fair because it is applied industry wide.

On the topic of having to invest your $500k and then having all the rest of the taxes and regulations forcing people to go down the contract route - I suppose it depends on how passionate you are about actually brewing. We got into the caper, like most other small breweries, cos we're enjoy and are passionate about making and brewing beer. If your thing is Brand Building and selling beer (as opposed to brewing), perhaps another route is to set up a Marketing and Distributing company for craft brewers rather than contracting a ghost/virtual brand. A different philosophy.

Cheers from Holgate