I'd like to see beer drinkers unite and stop the infighting amongst the industry. This may sound a bit naive but so do many crafty beer fans in their passionate hatred of big beer. I can understand where the feelings of mistrust of corporate beer comes from. Also keep in mind I'm also a craft beer fan also so don't think I'm an apologist for the old school big beer.
I have to admit when I first started into craft beer several years ago I took up the anti-macrobrew flag also. Why were these people drinking this swill? After many brews I kind of came down to judging beer by it's taste rather than the brand name or how big they are. It's so bad that some even claim that craft beer pioneer Jim Koch's Boston Beer(aka:Samuel Adams) isn't a real craft beer cause it's tooo big. Never mind that they brew some pretty dam good beer. Isn't that what it's really about.
This also harkens back recently to 10-Barrel Brewing being purchased AB-InBev. The craft beer circles were going nuts over this swearing of AB products and crying "sell outs"! They also claimed that the quality would go down also. Even though it may have happened in the past but I kind of doubt it will with these high profile purchases. Big beer is slowly learning they are being watched by enthusiasts and are working on their image. They tried making pseudo-craft brewery's like BlueMoon, Shocktop and others which are OK but are little respected by craft beer geeks.
It's a bit narrow minded to think these micro-brewers to stay micro forever. They also have a bottom line too. To make more beer they have to make a profit too. I have no ill-will towards companies like 10-Barrel or Goose Island who see the benefit from having the influx of being bought out. There is a lot more to the beer industry than making beer. Like other businesses they have to contend with supply issues, labor, marketing, distributing, investment capitol to keep producing. Unless you've run a business I doubt the average beer/critic knows squat about running a successful and profitable one.
Why don't brewers unite like other industries do? We've all seen the milk mustached celebrity ads. Like beef, milk,cheese, pork and other producers can't they come up with a campaign extolling the virtues of enjoying this wondrous beverage. Do it in a responsible way without promoting misuse.
Perhaps I'm a bit biased cause of my age group. Being middle aged I grew up when big beer was still king. Schlitz, Michelob and Budweiser were the beers my elders drank. the Craft beer movement was still in it's infancy when I came of legal age. I did become somewhat aware better beer while stationed in Germany but was hard to come by back in the states. I still in many ways hold a bit of respect for beer nostalgia and history. I've tasted some pretty good beer from macro-brews and some drain-pours from microbrews. It's all a matter of taste. Why did the pale lager come about? Cause people loved it. So what did smart brewers do? They followed the money and sold more of it. So perhaps the blame shouldn't be entirely shouldered by big beer but the consumers who guzzled it down.
I'd like to see less of a rivalry going on beer drinkers and brewers. I do understand that big beer at times employs what is considered bullying tactics. I am not that naive to think that that stuff still doesn't go on. It seems that since overall beer consumption is in a downward trend that beer companies are turning inward fro growth(against other brewers) instead of looking for newer consumers outward. Perhaps it'd be better to promote beer in general and look outward for new consumers rather than inward towards other beer companies. I think everyone could benefit from that. We all enjoy the same thing beer. Can't we get along?
The Complete Beer Course: Boot Camp for Beer Geeks: From Novice to Expert in Twelve Tasting Classes by Joshua M. Bernstein
