Beer is all about making friends & feeling good,
right? In a perfect world, my lamb, yes,
that would be the case. But we live in a
world of competing interests & opinions, & the beer world frequently finds
itself at loggerheads with…itself. As
much as we’d like to imagine that the craft beer world is one big happy
Valhalla, there are a lot of people under that tent right now, &
occasionally someone from one table gets POed at someone from another table
& lobs a hop bomb. Fortunately, the
average consumer can go about their beer-drinking unscathed & most likely
even unaware of some of these little squabbles, but it never hurts to lift the
teapot’s lid & take a peek at the tempest brewing inside. A few of the controversies bubbling among the
beer world:
Seasonal creep. The stakes are raised higher each year,
especially with the fall seasonals rolling out.
Five years ago, nobody expected that we’d see pumpkin beers in mid-July,
yet here we are. The fans are sharply
divided between “Too soon!” & “Gimme!”.
We happily cater to both crowds.
Don’t like it? You’re welcome to
drink something else. Weyerbacher &
Southern Tier are notorious for early unveilings, & no doubt some of the breweries
who show more restraint probably feel a little peeved. Sixpoint pointed out that fresh pumpkins
aren’t even harvested until later in the season, but the public doesn’t seem to
mind. This one’s hit close to home for
us lately, in case you hadn’t noticed.
Contract
brewing. What’s a brewer without a
brewery to do? Outsource. Contract brewing allows brewing companies to
use an existing brewery with excess capacity to make their product. Some established breweries see this is
cutting corners or not a true investment.
Heavy Seas founder Hugh Sisson told BeerAdvocate magazine that “you’re
not legit until you’ve got skin in the game”; NYC’s Singlecut posted a flyer
that went viral, reading “Contract brewing will be the death of craft
beer”. Dissenters note that contract
brewing was the birth of craft beer,
in a lot of ways - trailblazers Boston Beer Co., Brooklyn Brewing Co., &
Pete’s Brewing Co. were a few (among many) to cut their teeth on someone else’s
system. There’s still plenty being done
today, with the “gypsy brewer” faction finding a comfortable niche here. However, there’s some risk in allowing
another to brew your liquid gold, & a beer can’t turn out better than the
system & care it’s made with.
The definition of
“session beer”. “Session” is a buzz
word these days. Everyone knows what
it’s supposed to mean, but there hasn’t been a way to define it that people can
agree to use consistently. Is the cap
4%, as the English have traditionally set?
4.5%, as has been somewhat arbitrarily set by Lew Bryson & the
recent session “movement” in the states?
5% & 5.5% are values not unheard of.
Should there be a limit, & if so, how can it really be enforced
other than popular awareness?
Personally, I find myself sympathizing more with the English standard –
the term exists because of the English tradition, so why shouldn’t we also
abide by that tradition? But regardless,
people seem to agree that more low impact, high flavor beers are a good thing
(just don’t call it “light”…).
The definition of
“craft beer”. I’ve already written
about this, let’s see, here, here, here, & here (sorry, too lazy to link - scour the archives). Part of the controversy revolves around who
the definition includes (whom some feel it shouldn’t), excludes (whom some feel
it shouldn’t), & maybe most problematically, the fact that most couldn’t
care less about “The” definition in the first place. Ask 20 beer drinkers to define craft beer
& you’ll get 20 different answers.
The fact that the target keeps moving doesn’t help – since writing the
entries I listed above, the umbrella has widened to welcome Yuengling &
Straub. And, like “session beer”, the
definition is pretty impotent as long as it’s unenforceable – bars,
distributors, & brewing companies can market as “craft” whatever they
want.
Cans. Canning beer is the best thing since
fermenting beer, right? So many benefits
– light weight, easily recyclable, infinitely recyclable, protects from
oxidation, protects from UV rays.
No-brainer, right? Not for everybody. Of the 3,000 plus breweries in the US right
now, just over 400 can their beers.
Sure, that 3,000 includes brewpubs & small operations that don’t
package anyway (outside of kegging). But
there exists some opposition to the can as the future to beer. Tony Magee of Lagunitas has voiced his
resistance, citing that bauxite mining for aluminum is a pretty unsavory processor
(though a year later he seemed more flexible).
Some other big craft brewers have been conspicuously reticent about
cans, & I can’t help but feel like there’s some underlying dissent afoot.
Welp, as is my wont, I’m finding myself getting a little longer
in the wind than intended. Let’s let
this stew until next week.
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