The Brewers Association recently introduced this "independent craft brewer seal."
The image and logo will only be issued to beer brands that meet the Brewers Association's definition of the term "craft." https://www.brewersassociation.org
You may not be aware that Ballast Point Brewing Company, famed for its Sculpin IPA and fruity renditions of the same beer, was bought in 2015 for $1 billion by Constellation Brands, the company that owns Corona. Or that Lagunitas Brewing Company is now owned fully by Heineken or that Goose Island has since 2011 been a brand of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the global brewing giant that owns Budweiser.
These are just three of more than a dozen of the country's most popular and beloved craft breweries that have been purchased by global beverage companies in the past seven years. Indeed, beer brands recently purchased by larger companies now almost dominate many supermarket or liquor store shelves.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/07/28/539760477/craft-beer-brought-to-you-by-big-beer
Big things are happening in the world of beer. Two giant brewing groups, Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller, are in the process of merging.
They will produce a global monolith distributing almost one third of all the beer drunk in the world.
Out of one single group will stream many of the best-known international brands, including Budweiser, Stella Artois, Corona, Becks, and dozens of others.
Brewing groups have been taking each other over for decades, of course. The conventional idea is that mergers bring economies of scale - bigger, better breweries, more efficient distribution and marketing, tighter management.
But beer is about more than availability and alcohol content. Beer is about individuality, heritage, tradition, exploration, and taste and smell captured there in the glass.
At least that's what the so-called craft brewers tell me.
"Craft", "artisan", "micro" and "nano" are cult adjectives that arouse wariness, like stone-baked and handmade. But even if you are nervous about the use of the words, something is happening in craft brewing.
In Britain there has been a recent explosion of it. There are now said to be 1,500 small breweries in the UK, more per head than anywhere else in the world.
- DO THE BIG BOYS NOW TRYING TO GET INVOLVED TAKE AWAY THE VALUE OF 'CRAFT'
- IS 'CRAFT' NOW JUST BEING USED A SELLING POINT?
- IS THE NOVELTY OF CRAFT HOW YOU KNOW YOU ARE SUPPORTING A SMALLER BREWERY WHO ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT THE TASTE AND EXPERIENCE - THE POINT IS TO ESCAPE FROM THE LARGE COMMERCIALISED BRANDS WHO JUST WANT TO MAKE MONEY ON MASS-MARKETING?
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