Friday Morning Musings

Taking the cue from Alan, Beervana Jeff is also trying to redefine the brewery categories in a way that is more realistic (for lack of a better word) to the current situation in the American industry.

I like how things are here in the Czech Republic. There are four legally recognised categories that are based on the annual output of the breweries, and that's pretty much it. Everybody makes "pivo", attempts to come out with something that will describe certain beers haven't had much success, and as I've already discussed, I'm really cool with that.

But back to Jeff, by the end of his post he says that "there's really no use for the term (craft) and I am going on a personal campaign to eliminate it from my own vocabulary." And I believe we should all do likewise.

Let's do away with the term "Craft" to describe certain beers and breweries. It has become just another label, like "Premium", that doesn't mean anything as far as the quality of the beer is concerned. (actually, I would argue that "Premium" carries a lot more meaning quality-wise than "craft"). And we are doing ourselves (the consumers) disservice by keeping the craft beer myth alive.

In a Tweet, Boak and Bailey (perhaps trolling a bit, he!) said that it's hard to have a conversation with blunter terms. I disagree, it's actually very easy. Instead of wasting time and energy trying to explain what craft beer is or isn't, you can speak about the breweries and their beers and why do you think they are, or aren't, good.

Mind you, I'm not against the use of "craft" per se, just like I'm not against the use of "premium". If it helps the people on the other side of the counter shift a few more bottles or kegs, I'm fine with that. Let them define "craft beer" with whatever convenient nonsense they see fit, but we should ignore all of it.

All commercial beer, regardless of the scale of its production, is industrial, after all, it has always been.

Na Zdraví!