Monday Rant: Definitions, Definitions

As I'm a well-known cynic, I take exception many things in both life and society.I complain like an old man. Everyone tells me that I'm pretty much a 60-year-old man in the body of a what is now a 25-year-old. Many issues irk me within the beer community. I threw a fit when there was a big push to exile the English Shaker Pint. I did much the same when everyone drooled at the thought of purchasing the Dogfish/Spiegelau hop-forward glass which we eventually found out was simply an updated wine glass.

One issue that makes me have to remind myself to breathe, as comedian Lewis Black would say, is the craft vs. craft debate and defining of craft beer, craft brewers etc.

I came across a CNBC article that kind of pointed out that the definition of a craft brewer has been expanded to cater the growth of certain brewers such as Boston Brewing Co. At least, that's what I took from reading it.

I'm just tired of the Brewer's Association laying down it's own law. It's all just beer. Who cares how many barrels a brewery produces per-year? Why does it matter if a brewery like August Schell uses corn as an adjunct in some of its offerings?

The Brewer's Association says that you can't be considered a craft brewer if you use corn or rice. The major American companies use corn and rice, but most of the beer that comes from said companies simply is repulsive. I've had beer with corn that tastes great. Craft beer should be a very loose term. A personal definition for each of us that drinks beer we like. That's what craft should be.

Monday Rant: America Loves the Underdog

I got to it a few days late, but felt the need to share it with as many as possible as well as possibly getting in some of my input on the issue. A post by A Good Beer Blog explained how craft beer here in the states could eventually shoot itself in the foot.

What I got from the Brewer's Association press release and the post I linked is that it looks like craft beer in America is trying to be the aggressor. Let me explain this a bit more if you still don't understand.

It's always been said that America loves the underdog. We see this in many facets of today's society. The best example I can take from the top of my head is sports. A huge percentage of fans root for upsets. Remember this the next time you fill out an NCAA basketball bracket.

Could it be possible that a good bit of Americans started getting into craft beer because it was another choice compared to the same old beers from the major companies that dominated (and still do) most of the market? Could it have been because some people just wanted to be a part off another potential Cinderella story? In essence, that is pretty much what craft beer in this country is. There has been a huge boom in popularity and market share, but when you come full circle that's basically the situation.

Since I'm a big history buff, the closest parallel to all of this I can find is the Civil War. Especially the Battle of Gettysburg, which is arguably my favorite historical event to read-up on. It seemed to me that craft beer always tried to play it safe over the years. In Civil War terminology, this would be close to conducting a defensive campaign. I don't remember craft beer or the Brewers Association being such an aggressor. It always seemed to take the high road when it came to engagements with the major companies.

The defensive style has always worked for craft beer as evident by the growth. The Confederate Army in the Civil War also found similar success while employing defensive tactics in battle. For a short time it looked like there was a glimmer of hope for the Confederacy to actually win the war. That was until it went on the aggression. Gettysburg was the high water mark, as many historians agree.

I'm among those that believe that General Robert E. Lee had some fantasy that his troops were invincible throughout the campaign and when the battle broke out north of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. Why else would he bring on a full engagement without his army fully concentrated? Why else would he go on such an offensive for the following two days? Why else would he organize a grand, Napoleonic assault over a mile of open ground and send 15 thousand men to be butchered? To make a long story short, those three days marked the beginning of the end for the Confederacy.

That mile of vast, open ground.

If you've been able to bear my history lesson up to this point, you see what I meant earlier in the post. I've always been one to agree with the saying that those that don't know their history are doomed to repeat it. Craft beer is on its way to becoming the very thing it swore to destroy if everything keeps up this way. It's unique in its own way and that's what some of us love about it and it sits in a great place as of now. Craft beer doesn't need to make this fight its Gettysburg, so to speak. We don't need another lost cause movement in the near future. Don't veer away from what's already been successful.

Brewers Association Releases List of Top-50 Craft Breweries

Raise your next pint to Mr. Yuengling.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Earlier this week, the Brewers Association released its list of the top-50 craft brewing companies along with the top-50 overall brewing companies. Both lists in their entirety can be found right here.

Both of the lists were based on total beer sales in 2011.

What concerned me was whether or not a few of the Pennsylvania breweries that cracked the list. On the craft brewery list, Victory Brewing was the top and only ranked company in the state (No. 27.)

As for the second list, I was actually surprised to see D. G. Yuengling and Son ranked at No. 4 even though it recently became the largest American-owned brewery that made all of it's product in the United States, surpassing Boston Beer Co.

Pittsburgh Brewing Co. was next (No. 30), with Victory Brewing Co. close behind (No. 39.)