Craft beer appears to be one of those wooly terms that drinkers use about beer they like, and smaller brewers use to try and market their beer as not being made by a large company.
I don’t quite understand why people tend to think that because a brewery is small that it makes good beer. My experience is that I have had more poorly made, infected, and undrinkable beer from small brewers than large ones. Large brewers tend to brew drinkable, well made beer. Large brewers may not make niche beer, but that doesn’t mean they make bad beer - the beers may tend to be fairly mainstream, but that in itself is not a flaw if the drinker is not looking for something radical.
The definition by the Brewers Association is "An American craft brewer is small, independent and traditional", which says little, is relative, and may be inaccurate (traditional?).
I think it’s a term which was developed by the Brewers Association to encompass their membership which compromises both what were previously termed microbreweries and the home-brewers who did not fit with the understood term of microbrewery, which is a commercial operation. A craft brewer can be a home-brewer or a commercial brewer, as long as they are "small".
As craft implies some skill and knowledge, then it’s a term I would more comfortably use about the larger, experienced breweries, such as Greene King, while it’s not a term I would apply to over half the small breweries in the UK, such as my local brewery Nelson, which is an amateurish operation.
As the new breweries in America were looking for an edge over the established brewers, one of their claims was that they used "all malt", as that was the successful marketing claim of Heinekin (not exactly the world’s most exciting beer, but it’s success in getting a foothold in the American beer market was an inspiration for the new breweries). That some of the beers that Americans admire most from Europe contain corn, is an ironic twist in this whole marketing game.
Beer is as much (well, more) about image and style as it is about the quality and drinkability of the product. People will buy into an image that appeals to them, or is reflected down to them from peers they respect. As social animals when we join a group we want to fit in, so if the group is buzzing about "craft beer", then we are keen to like this "craft beer" as well. Take the brand and the marketing away from most beers, and you lose a huge bunch of the pleasure and excitement.
Blind tasting beers is a deep learning experience. There are some beers which are unique (not always in itself a good thing - Cave Creek Chilli Beer, etc) which you can pick out in a blind tasting, but most are not, and without the brand identity they become just a beer.
The provenance of a beer is such a big part of the pleasure, that provenance is stolen all the time. America is not the first country to steal the provenance of other beers ("Belgian style" this and that, "IPA", "English Pale Ale", "Scottish Ale", etc), but are the first to do it on such a huge scale. At this point, it seems, Americans cannot drink a beer unless there is some marketing hype or provenance claim attached to it. American beers need to have a style of some sort. Some Americans are uncomfortable drinking a beer unless they know what the style is.
My own weakness, as regards the image of beer, is for beers that have had a social or historical impact. I get very excited at drinking beers which have a sense of history about them. For me to blind taste an Imperial Stout and not know it was Courage Russian Imperial from 1968 would be to deprive me of a huge amount of pleasure. I think of it like being blindfold and dipping your cock in something soft, warm and wet - it may feel nice, but not knowing if it was the mouth of a 79 year old granddad or the cunt of Angelina Jolie would take away a lot of the excitement. |
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It feels like we are getting a little hooked on the semantics of the term ’craft’. Perhaps a better definition would be ’traditional’ and ’progressive’. Traditional brewers brew traditional styles, using traditional methods. Progressive brewers experiment with new styles, or reinvent traditional styles sometimes using new methods.
Both these methods produce good beers and bad beers, but the question is:
’Should CAMRA be supporting the progressive brewers, or should they just stick to the traditional model of purely cask ale, as they currently do.’
One thing I can say is that it is the progressive brewers who have got me excited and into beer in a bigger way than I would have been otherwise. Tasting big Californian grapefruity IPAs, smooth chocolatey porters stouts, double IPAs, etc. It has nothing to do with marketing and is all about taste and flavour. |
Originally posted by EdKing
Tasting big Californian grapefruity IPAs, smooth chocolatey porters stouts, double IPAs, etc. It has nothing to do with marketing and is all about taste and flavour.
You enjoy the beers you enjoy. Some beers do taste great, regardless of who makes them or what they are called. A smooth chocolate beer won’t taste better or worse on a blind tasting just because it’s termed a "craft beer". But knowing that it was made by Anheuser-Busch would take away some of the pleasure.
Craft beer is a marketing term, but that is not a bad thing. Each to their own. We get our kicks in different ways. Life is not utilitarian. We need the romance and the idealism. And, as I say, my romance is history.
But don’t start getting evangelical about your thing, and insisting that we replace Angelina Jolie with Lady Gaga just because she happens to turn you on.
Craft beer is your pornography, and that’s fine. But don’t go thinking it’s the real deal. It’s an image that you’ve bought into, and that you enjoy.
I get a pleasure from buying local produced food. Even more of a pleasure buying it directly from the person who made it. Even more of a pleasure if the product is quite rare or unique, or a revival of an older product. But I’m aware that these are all value-added issues, and will not make any real difference to the taste or quality of the product.
Being aware of the value-added, the imagery that you enjoy and buy into, the provenance, etc, does not detract from the pleasure - indeed, for me it adds to it, as I’m into knowledge and truth. And it allows me to make intelligent buying decisions. How much am I prepared to pay for the value-added? For a special occasion, I am prepared to pay a lot. For every day drinking, I’m quite happy to be utilitarian. |
Originally posted by Gazza
Originally posted by haddonsman
There’s no such thing as craft beer in the UK. It’s just another pointless marketing term.
I disagree. "craft" beer is beer that is made by people who, in the main, live and breathe beer. You might think this is the same as cask beer but, the way I see it, there’s a whole wide ocean of difference between a lot of the quasi-industrial cask ale brewers and those of us who call what we make craft beer.
Yes, it may be a vacuous marketing term and, yes, we may have stolen it from the US, but I think it’s a distinct pointer to what you’re going to get; properly brewed, interesting beer which doesn’t really encompass a lot of cask in the UK IMO.
Originally posted by haddonsman
Brewers can say they brew it, bars can say they serve it, drinkers can say they drink it. But it’s just beer.
That’s a rather simplistic and, dare I say, vapid way of describing beer... unless you’re using English sarcasm then that’s OK! 
I agree here actually. Craft produce is depicted as a very cautiously made; often limited, often family involved, often quite small and perfectly independent. I think craft beer is the future. More and more micros are emerging and quality is gradually and slowly increasing.
There are more craft concept bars then there was. I think CAMRA have made a huge tit out of themselves regarding keg beer and this is one of the reawsons I’ve discontinued my subscription. I also know cask beer is awesome but SOOO many times it’s not been conditioned properly. The whole concept should be amazing craft beer conditioned properly.
Gazza just give Steel City a heads up to the manager of Football Pub. I know he’ll like your beers. He loves them big and hoppy. I’m gutted I can’t do the cruise but there is another more important event for me. |
Originally posted by SilkTork
Beer is as much (well, more) about image and style as it is about the quality and drinkability of the product.
Not to me it ain’t. |
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OK, since the term "craft" is such a can of worms, lets rephrase the original question.
Should CAMRA support beer that does not fall within its definition of "real ale"? |
We were going to call the bar Craft beer co. But this thread has inspired us to call it Lucky Piere’s Party Titwank. |
Thomas - "very cautiously made; often limited, often family involved, often quite small and perfectly independent"? Go away and look at the breweries using the term ’craft’ to describe their output. And we all know you’ve cancelled your subscription.
Chris - Should CAMRA support non-secondary-fermented beer? No. Turkey’s don’t vote for Christmas.
Tom - I look forward to the opening of Lucky Piere’s Party Titwank. It’s about time someone did something original |
