Bad Moon Rising?

Man.  People get passionate about beer. 

A few recent House blog posts have talked about the definition of craft beer, who’s in & who’s out according to the Brewer’s Association & their guidelines.   We discussed the need for a definition & a clear demarcation, as well as what might be perceived by some as imperfections in the definition as it stands.  Who are the Brewer’s Association trying to guard the craft emblem against?  The big boys, obviously.  It used to be that you knew the big boys when you saw them, because they all made the same kind of beer, a product viewed by many the craft rebels as inferior, corrupted by greed & laziness. 

But then things started changing.  The big boys realized that these little upstarts doing weird stuff weren’t going away – in fact, they were showing beer drinkers something better.  They were even getting the attention of wine & spirits drinkers who thought they didn’t like beer.  First the big boys tried dismissing the craft brewers.  I can’t remember for the life of me which beer it was for, but I remember years ago a big-time American lager advertising itself as “classic, not trendy; friendly, not pretentious”, which I read as a swipe at the character of the craft “trend”.  When they realized they couldn’t trivialize craft, they decide to get in on the action & up their own game a little bit, brewing up some more flavorful alternatives to the mainstays, while not going too crazy: wheat beers, fruited beers, even the occasional stout or pumpkin – what most would consider “gateways”.  To further hone in on craft’s action, the big boys started buying out reputable craft brewers like Redhook, Pyramid, Magic Hat, the biggest boat-rocker being Goose Island.  If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em – or get them to join you.

What’s happening more lately is that craft beer’s lines are being blurred, which is what caused the BA to so violently wrench the wheel to try to get things back on course.  When people speak of “craft vs. crafty”, the biggest culprit, seemingly the biggest threat to craft beer’s integrity & distinction, is Blue Moon.  People are passionate about beer, & Blue Moon seems to really piss the passionate off.  When the Discovery Channel aired Brewmasters, beer geeks decried that Blue Moon was a sponsor.  When some new Blue Moon products were promoted on our Facebook page earlier this month, it drew some unfavorable responses.  One commenter drew a thumbs down.  Another derisively pointed out that Blue Moon is made by Coors (which it is).  BrewDog summated the sentiment in their blog: “Why do we need a definition [for craft beer]?  Three words: Blue Fucking Moon.”

Blue Moon is the big boys.  But guess what?  Blue Moon’s been around longer than BrewDog.  It’s been around longer than Stone, Russian River, Founders, Troegs, & Firestone Walker.  Coors launched it in 1995, a time when “craft beer” was still known as “microbrew”, way before the recent crisis over craft co-opting, before the era of imitation & acquisition.  Sure, plenty of transparent craft imitators have come along (SHOCKing, huh?) & plenty have gone the way of the dodo (anyone remember Bare Knuckle Stout?).  I may get tarred & feathered by the hardliners, but I’d go so far as to say that Blue Moon helped pave the way for the rise of craft.  If you’re over 30 & live in the US, I’m willing to wager that your first non-lager beer was either Blue Moon or Guinness.  Craft is all about choice & flavor, having an alternative, & Blue Moon showed a lot of people that not all beer is the same.  Many of those brew neophytes went on to become the seasoned beer geeks that…well, read this blog.  Maybe we’d all do well to don some humility, look ourselves in the mirror, & admit that a corporate product may be partly responsible for growing us up.

And here’s another lidblower: it’s not a bad beer.  One of the BA’s biggest beefs with the “crafty” brands is the lack of transparency about who’s actually making what you’re drinking, & again, Blue Moon is the go-to culprit: the bottles only mention “Blue Moon Brewing Co.”, not Coors.  I agree that people should be informed as to who their beer money goes to support.  But part of me wonders, though, if the BA is threatened by Blue Moon because it’s actually a decent product.  Obscuring the brewery’s identity, while maybe dishonest, helps level the playing field & allows the drinks to stand on its own merits rather than be judged by who makes it (though, sure, very few are in the dark about this relationship).  I’m not going to lie & say it’s the best, but it’s survived where a lot of others have floundered because it’s legitimately…not bad.

All that being said - Blue Moon is still not craft beer in the strict sense of the term, & we can all make up our own minds about how much we care about supporting the small dogs or the big boys.  I’m just saying give a little credit where it’s due: like it or not, it’s got more credibility than the in-crowders care to admit.