What Is The Definition Of Craft Beer?

I was asked by a friend to explain what the difference between non-craft beer and craft beer. I wrote a brief post back in June of 2008 about this subject but I perhaps overly simplified my answer back then to what has become an ever complex and somewhat controversial definition.

The Brewers Association has their definition which excludes many of the pioneer breweries of craft beer such as the Boston Beer Company and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.

According to The Brewers Association website the definition of craft beer is:

1. Small--production of 2 million barrels or less.

2. Independent--less than 25 percent own by an alcohol beverage company which is not a craft brewer themselves.

3. Traditional-brewer who has either an all malt flagship (the beer which represents the greatest volume among that brewers brands) or has at least 50 percent of its volume in either all malt beers or in beers which use adjunct to enhance rather than lighten flavor.

That last definition you almost needed a lawyer to understand. All of these definitions are controversial because many true craft beer brewers don't fit into their definition. Brewers like Goose Island, Widmer Brothers, Redhook are excluded because of their association with A-B Inbev.

To complicate matters even further you have the breakaway Michelob Brewing Co. who's slogan is "Crafting a better beer" has been given autonomy by A-B Inbev but is still owned by them. Blue Moon is another brewing company that is considered a craft beer but is owned by Molson Coors.

We really have a dilemma because the more the really good craft brewers gain in popularity they gain in growth and will eventually exceed the 2 million barrel mark. At the same time we have big non-craft breweries starting up these small offshoot breweries trying to gain market share into the craft beer market.

So what answer can I give to my friend? There is really no pat answer. One thing I do see that stands out between what is craft beer is the ingredients. Non-craft (aka mass produced adjunct macro beers) try to tone down flavor to make their beer more appealing to those who really don't like the taste of beer. The emphasis is towards quantity rather than quality, drinkability and profitability not flavor.

Craft beer on the other hand if they add anything other than the traditional ingredients of water, barley, hops and yeast do so to enhance flavor rather than tone down the flavor. Quality and flavor is the emphasise and the drinkability is judged from something other than being flavorless carbonated water. There is a reason why a twelve pack of adjunct lager cost $13.99 a case and a 6 pack of craft beer cost $8.99. Just as there is a real difference in price there is a real difference in quality of ingredients. Craft beer don't use adjuncts to cheapen its product. Craft beer is what beer was meant to be. Savour the flavor and give God praise & thanks for it.

Seniors Bikers Bar

June09 Tasting Notes And Ratings

Drifter Pale Ale
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Rating: good
Overall score 3.8
Appearance 4/ Smell 4/ Taste 3.5/ Mouthfeel 4/ Drinkability 3.5

This beer pours a cooper color with a thick frothy off white head, that slowly dissipates to a liberal amount of lacing. Smell is really good with light grains and pale malt, fruity, citrus hop scents. Flavor has a grapefruit tang that finishes dry. This is the best Widmer Brother brew I have tried.

[poured from bottle]



Summer Time Kolsch
----------------------
Rating: decent
Overall score 3.2
Appearance 3/ Smell 3/ Taste 3/ Mouthfeel 3/ Drinkability 4.5

Pours a clear golden color with a white head that settles quickly to a small amount of lacing. Smell is a very light grains. The taste is really thin with an apple, lemon, and bread like flavor. Light bodied and highly drinkable. Overall impression of this beer is a disapointment compared with other Goose Island beers.

[poured from bottle]



New Holland Sun Dog Amber Ale
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Rating: decent
Overall score 3.3
Appearance 4/ Smell 3/ Taste 3/ Mouthfeel 3.5/ Drinkability 3.5

This beer pours a rich cooper color with a milky white head. A basic amber flavoring of biscuit, caramel malts. Some grassy hops is noticeable. Has a dry earthy finish. Most craft brewers brew an amber ale and New Holland is no different. This amber ale don't standout as anything special.

[poured from bottle]


Hofbrau Hefeweizen
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Rating: very good
Overall score 3.9
Appearance 3.5/ Smell 4/ Taste 4/ Mouthfeel 3.5/ Drinkability 4.5

Pours a cloudy golden yellow color with a huge pillowy white head. Has a light sweet wheat and yeast aroma. The taste is remarkably good with clove spiciness and banana flavor. The hops is lightly in the background just detectable. Light bodied and very easy to drink.

[poured from bottle]


Rating Scale
----------------
4.8 world class
4.5 outstanding
4.2 excellent
3.9 very good
3.6 good
3.3 decent
3.0 fair
2.7 mediocre
2.4 poor
2.1 bad

Budweiser Chelada

I saw this at Ray's Mug & Jug being sold in single cans so I thought what the heck why not try both the Bud Light and Budweiser Chelada. My first thought after pouring this out into my beer glass was is this really considered beer? As I always do when I need to find out something about beer I turn to Beer Advocate. Sure enough Bud Chelada is listed under the fruit/vegetable beer style category.

How can something be considered a beer when it don't look, smell or taste like a beer? Yes part of the ingredients is beer but the dominate ingredient is not. This is simply a different version of a Bloody Mary, but instead of vodka the alcohol content comes from beer.

Since this beverage is under the style category of a fruit/vegetable beer this has been receiving reviews at Beer Advocate which most of the 90+ reviews have been awful. Frankly as a beer I would agree because when I want to drink beer I want to drink beer and this concoction is anything but beer.

After I got over the initial disappointment that I was not going to be actually drinking beer while watching the baseball game that night, I began to appreciate the uniqueness of this drink. To be honest I actually began to like and enjoy the fresh tomato and spicy peppery aftertaste. It was refreshing and went down smooth. I found myself drinking this much to fast.

If you are a true blue, bonafide, certified, classified beer drinker don't even consider purchasing this to quench you beer thirst. If you like to drink other types of alcohol beverages you might really enjoy this drink. I reiterate the point that once I put out of my mind and settled the issue that this was not a beer I was able to enjoy this beverage as an unique alcohol beverage that tasted pretty darn good. But as long as I thought of this as drinking a beer it made me gag.

May09 Tasting Notes and Ratings

Shiner Bock
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Rating: fair
Overall score 3.1
Appearance 3/ Smell 3/ Taste 3/ Mouthfeel 3/ Drinkability 3.5

Pours a clear dark amber color, foams up to an one and a half finger tan head which dissipates fairly quickly leaving very little lacing. Smooth but thin flavor. Weak caramel and toasted malts. Low carbonation and dry mouthfeel. Not a bad beer but not great either.

[poured from bottle]



Shiner Hefeweizen
----------------------
Rating: good
Overall score 3.8
Appearance 4/Smell 3.5/ Taste 4/ Mouthfeel 4/ Drinkability 3.5

Pours a cloudy yellow/orange, big rocky white head that formed a ring at the top and spotty lacing the rest of the way down the glass. Very sweet and extremely refreshing. No lack of citrus flavor, being mostly lemon but some orange. The yeast is a bit much but don't overshadow the taste, adding an earthy character. Carbonation give a good mouthfeel. I will definitely be enjoying this beer again during the hot summer months.

[poured from bottle]





Sierra Nevada Summerfest Lager
-------------------------------
Rating: very good
Overall score 4.1
Appearance 4 Smell 3.5/ Taste 4.5/ Mouthfeel 4 Drinkability 4.5

No freshness date but a big 2009 on neck gives me confidence this beer is not to old. Pours a clear gold color. A good dose of herbal hop aroma. Taste is like fresh cut hay or grass that is very clean, crisp and refreshing. Hop is spicy and gives a nice bitter bit at finish. Light bodied and unbelievably drinkable.

[poured from bottle]





Goose Island Nut Brown Ale
-----------------------------
Rating: very good
Overall score 3.9
Appearance 3.5/ Smell 4/ Taste 4 Mouthfeel 4/ drinkability 4

Pours a dark brown with a small tan head. Light amount of lacing. Toasty malt smell. A typical brown ale taste with caramel, chocolate, toffee. Medium bodied. Mouthfeel is creamy and has a little bit of a syrupy aftertaste that sticks in your mouth. Really a complex beer which makes it highly drinkable because you want to take another sip to discover more.

[poured from bottle]



Rating scale
---------------
4.8 world class
4.5 outstanding
4.2 excellent
3.9 very good
3.6 good
3.3 decent
3.0 fair
2.7 mediocre
2.4 poor
2.1 bad

Sin Tax

Calling tax on alcohol and tobacco "sin tax" seems a bit unfair. Nether drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco is sin. The person who coin the phrase "sin tax" has never met those I know who smoke or drink.

Michigan is taxing the hell out of cigarettes which has gone up twice. Now there is legislation to tax beer and have the proceeds go to fund child welfare. I agree with what Dave Hilderbrand R-Lowell said in the Grand Rapids News, "he sympathizes with the need to do right by those vulnerable children. But there is a lot of waste in state government. We can find the resources if we spend the money we are getting in more responsibly and more efficiently." As a beer drinker I'm a little insulted that I would be targeted. What exactly are they implying? State Sen. Mark Jansen R-Gaines Township, Chairman of the Family & Human Service Committee is also puzzled why the task force decided to turn to beer as a revenue source for human service needs. "I'm not not sure how you connect those two" he said.

The tax would add $.05 to a bottle of beer, which doesn't sound like much but Michigan tax on beer is already the highest in the Great Lakes region and 300 percent more than Wisconsin. Furthermore this tax would adversely affect the middle class. It also going to hit retailers, and restaurant who are already among the hardest hit segment of the economy.

I find it disheartening that many of my Christian brethern thinks just the act of drinking a beer is sin. Then I have my government calling the extra tax I pay for my beer "sin tax". It is ironic that this nation was born do to an unfair and unreasonable tax on a commodity like tea. I wonder what one of our Founding Fathers Benjamin Franklin would think of this new "sin tax" especially when he said "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

I Am A Craft Brewer

Just about every beer blog has this video so I might as well join the party.




I Am A Craft Brewer on Vimeo


Cheers!

April09 Tasting Notes and Ratings

Foster's Lager
------------------
Rating: poor
Overall score 2.2/5
Appearance 3/ Smell 2/ Taste 1.5/ Mouthfeel 2.5/ Drinkability 2

From a big 25.4 oz can that resembles an oil can. No freshness date to be found. Looks good in the glass. Pours a clear golden color. Tons of carbonation which produces a large fluffy white head, that settles down to oily streaks of lacing. The taste did not agree with my palate. Grainy malts with a bland sour dough biscuit like taste which made it hard to swallow. Light bodied with semi-dry finish. Glad to see it gone to never touch my lips again.

[Poured from can]



Horizon Wheat
------------------
Rating: good
Overall score 3.7/5
Appearance 3/ Smell 3.5/ Taste 4/ Mouthfeel 3.5/ Drinkability 4.5

Poured into a glass mug. Appearance is hazy yellow with a thin white head and not much lacing. A good dose of yeast, along with a soft lemony flavor in the background. The wheat malt is noticeable but not very strong. Pale sweetness with very light spice. Light bodies and refreshing. Will be seeking this beer again in the summer.

[poured from bottle]



Redhook ESB
-------------
Rating: decent
Overall score 3.4
Appearance 4/ Smell 3.5/Taste 3.5/ Mouthfeel 3.5/ Drinkability 2.5


One of my favorite styles. This beer has a bottling date stamped on the label that reads 9-16-08. That is older than I like my beer to be. This beer pour a really nice looking clear cooper color, with off white head, spotty lacing. Really sweet with plenty of caramel malt. Ends with a nice bite of hop bitterness which leaves a dry mouthfeel. A clean somewhat unassuming ESB.

[poured from bottle]


St Pauli Girl Dark
------------------------
Rating: decent
Overall score 3.4/5
Appearance 3.5/ Smell 3/ Taste 3.5/ Mouthfeel 3/ Drinkability 4


Pours dark, looks like a cola in my glass. Medium tan head, small amount of lacing. A fleeting smell of roasted malt and hops. Light to medium bodied. Some hints of chocolate, roasted coffee in the dark malts. Not overly complex, decent session beer

[poured from bottle]


Rating scale
---------------
4.8 world class
4.5 outstanding
4.2 excellent
3.9 very good
3.6 good
3.3 decent
3.0 fair
2.7 mediocre
2.4 poor
2.1 bad