The cost of Craft-article
- Thread starter dmclone
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Newbie question: how would you define 'craft' beer? Is it all about the brewer? Or how it's brewed? Or what? Can a 'macrobrewery' produce a craft beer?
Forgot to add... good read. Thanks
Forgot to add... good read. Thanks
Newbie question: how would you define 'craft' beer? Is it all about the brewer? Or how it's brewed? Or what? Can a 'macrobrewery' produce a craft beer?
Forgot to add... good read. Thanks
It's actually defined by the government for distribution purposes. It has to do with the Barrels produced per year. Off hand, I forget what that number is, but compared to the Big Guys, Bud, Miller, etc, it's a drop in the bucket. For example, by government standards, Sam Adams is still a craft brewery.
If you really enjoy craft brews, I highly suggest giving homebrewing a shot. It really looks a lot more challenging than it really is. The best part is, if I really want to try something I can't find, I either find a recipe for it or build my own and brew it. For example, I've never had a Three Floyds Zombie Dust, but I've made a clone 2 times. My friends say it's pretty much spot on. Plus, when you brew you own beer, you get a greater appreciation for the work it takes to make a beer.
So, barrels produced of a particular beer or by the brewer? i.e. - could a large brewer make a craft beer?
And after seeing the prices of some of these craft beers and reading this article, I'm considering trying to brew my own.
It's by the brewery over all. Not sure how it works exactly though, since ABInbev have bought a bunch of craft breweries now to edge into the market. I'm pretty sure that they are now part of the megabrewery scene. Basically, if you are allowed to have a tap room to sell beer at your brewery, you are still a craft brewer. ABInbev, SAB/MillerCoors can offer samples at their brewery, but they can't actually sell beer there. It's also dependent on the state and even local municipalities as to what you can serve.
With the large guys buying up smaller breweries, the lines are getting blurred. Like here, Goose Island was bought by ABInbev. I personally still consider them a craft brewery though because they still put out specialty brews that are limited in production and only produced certain times of the year. Their basic beers, Honkers Ale, Greenline, etc. are brewed on a mass scale, but they do still do brew locally in their brewpubs and they still have pilot systems where they brew really small batches to try out new recipes.
I think in the end, my idea of a craft brewery is one who may have their staples, but are doing something different on a regular basis to hopefully come up with something new you haven't tasted anymore.
Guess I don't know where to find real craft beer. Don't think I've paid more than $10 for a six pack and most stuff seems to be in the $8 range.
Only reason to pay more than $8 for a sixxer is if the alcohol content is above 8%. Otherwise u are are getting ripped off, love supporting the brewery, or the beer is completely unique and you haven't found an alternative favorite. Currently, the market is exploiting curiosity which is fine, but expensive.
As far as brewing your own, I would say results may vary. I tried home brewing and in the end I decided that I should leave it to the pro's. In addition, having 48 bottles of the same thing gets boring. If I was to do it again I would try small batch brewing. I will say that it was very educational and made me learn a lot about bear and appreciate what brewers do.
Speak for yourself..
In any case, it's all about perception. The idea of beer being a "luxury" food item is still fairly new.
I don't think that the government has an official definition of "craft brewer". As far as they are concerned, a 1bbl nano and a 1000bbl macro are the same in terms of taxes and regulation (in general...there are always bits and pieces that apply differently depending on what you're doing and the size of the company).
The Brewer's Association has what is generally (but not universally) considered the accepted definition which is as follows:
The 6 million bbl/year number keeps rising as the "big little guys" keep growing (I believe it was 3 mil bbl/year a few years back).
And yeah, there isn't as much money in beer as you may think there is unless you can capture as much of that revenue stream as possible, which is why taprooms are the lifeblood of a small brewery. I get asked if we bottle ALL the time, and I should just have this article printed out to hand to people when they ask!
I thought this was about the amount of beer I drank on account of Aaron Craft. And it was a lot that night. F Aaron Craft