|
Jan
27
2012
 
“Craft” or “Not craft”? That is the beer question.Posted by Graeme Coates in UncategorizedCouldn’t give a stuff. Does it taste good?
That’s all I have to add. And until this footnote, the title was longer than the content. Blown it now though. Photo credit: Ian Britton, via: freefoto.com, ref: 09-15-53 Share this post:
4 Responses to ““Craft” or “Not craft”? That is the beer question.”
Leave a Reply
|
Powered by WordPress MU & hosted by Chromosphere Sites
Create a new blog and join in the fun! Mandigo theme by tom
Entries (RSS)
and Comments (RSS).
33 queries. 1.939 seconds.
© 2008-2012 chromosphere All Rights Reserved -- Copyright notice by Blog Copyright
Most coherent post on the subject I have seen.
Could you have given a stuff on Saturday 12th Nov when you were stewarding at the London and South East Craft Brewing Festival in Wimbledon?
I think you’ve missed the point.
This was a response to the ongoing “what is the definition of craft beer” debate on the blogs and on twitter, which is most often about commercial breweries…
Do I care what that festival was called? No, not really. It could have been called the London &SE Home Brewing Festival, or a Festival for Beers Brewed on Non Commercial Equipment for all it matters.
Would I still have given up my day to help and steward if that wasn’t called a craft beer festival? Yes of course I would. I hope I did a half decent job, and if required, wouldn’t hesitate to offer my help again in any way.
For what it’s worth, the “craft beer” there was frequently a darn sight better than some of the “craft beer” found on sale in the UK…
You did a good job as a steward, and I hope you got something out of it!
In the UK, the argument over what is craft beer is messy, and somewhat pointless.
In the US, however, the term actually has a legal meaning which was defined in the 1994 Microbrewry Bill passed by the Clinton Administration and pushed for by the Brewer’s Association. The definition of a Craft Brewery is production of less than 6,000,000 US beer barrels (700,000,000 L) a year, and there is significant tax relief for these breweries (hence why US craft beer is not punished for production at high ABV). In many ways the ‘commercial does not equal craft’ stance in the UK is informed by the fact that it is scale of production that is the determinant of the status of a craft brewer in the US.
All of this said and done, it really all has to be about quality. I’ve had good and bade beer from both large commerical brewries and tiny craft brewers. It’s the quality that is important, not the scale of production, but small brewers must be allowed to play in the market.