A big part of this problem lies in how much in bed the distributors are with the big breweries. A few friends changed to a self-distribution model. They are more profitable now, because they don’t have the distributors holding their beers back. Luckily, they can do it that way in this state. Lots of states that is illegal.
In Wisconsin the Tavern league and Beer Distributors are try to sneak into a budget bill to eliminate self distribution. Even a brewery’s tap house would have to buy its beer back from a distributor. This is an effective way to eliminate the small breweries in Wisconsin, especially if you make under 10,000 barrels a year. Most beer distributors in Wisconsin carry one of the big beer brands coincidence?
Yes I do own a tinfoil hat and a brewery.
We interview Bob Pease of the BA about this on the podcast coming out next Wed. 7/5
Awesome. I was hoping that the BA would do a label ID like this. Hopefully brewers will get on board with it.
After some thought, I have changed the “Crap” category on craftorcrafty.com to “Corporate.”
I decided that the “crap” designation implied a judgement about the quality of the beer, which is not what this site is about. And “crap” is certainly not a good description of breweries like Guinness and Franziskaner, which do make more sense in the Corporate category. So ultimately this is a pretty broad category, encompassing “old master” breweries that have been purchased by Big Beer, international mainstays, and truly “crap” breweries that produce better advertising than beer.
One of the local breweries around me is already tweeting the label.
There’s a third option: small to medium sized local beer. It’s fresh, it’s saving shipping costs, and the money is going toward your community, not some vague global center of finance. But when the distributors are owned by the big corporations, they can have a hard time getting shelf space, and it has nothing to do with the consumer’s choice.
I have signed up for the label now I need to get winzip so I can open it up. Doh!!!
Should be built in to Windows
I can see the craftiness in use of alliteration. How about instead of “crap” you use “crooked”?
EDIT: Or “corporate”, yeah, that works.
I am probably in the minority, but I think it sucks. After reading it is understandable why the bottle is upside down, but how many people are going to take the time to read about it. It depicts a negative IMO with the bottle position. Kinda like the old Olympia label with the Good Luck horseshoe with all the luck spilling out.
This, in a nutshell, is the problem IMO. I’m all for free enterprise, smart business practices - really. Predatory business practices, not as much. Each his own.
FWIW Mr. Monk, I can no longer buy any Red Hook beers locally, can’t get Ruthless rye, can only buy Torpedo if I buy a 12 pack with 9 beers I won’t drink, can only buy Hop Nosh if the wind is blowing just right, and I could go on and on. What happened to all those beers that used to be available in my tiny little anthill at the furthest outpost of BFE? They’ve been replaced by stuff like Ballast Point and other Macro vassals, these may be great beers but I’ll be damned if I’ll by any of them. Those of you residing near the coasts, whether east, west or south, may still have access to most of what you’d like, but many of us living in the 85% of the American landmass know derisively by many a “fly over country” have lost that access. Here in my town we do have a better than we probably deserve liquor store, the owner tries to keep what we want, but in the end he can only stock what the distributors will let him have. I too am a firm believer in letting the market forces make the decisions about what will be available to customers, but only when the playing field is level. I don’t think any sane, honest person could seriously argue that is the case.
A seal improvement IMO.
Like Visor said above, my only complaint is that diversity decreases. I want to be able to get something local, which is possible in Peoria (Although it’s not always great). When you’re travelling or eating with other people, you can’t always choose to go to the place with the good beer. Yes, it’s part of business. It’s not a part I have to encourage with my dollars. I like the website, I like the new label, I’m looking forward to not have to rack my brain every time I buy a beer.
There is a very good blurb in Beer Advocate this month about how crafty brands are bad for lovers of craft beer. The TLDR is that carrying crafty brands allows businesses to have the appearance of offering a lot of options, while actually working to lock out truly craft breweries.
The argument about the virtues of capitalism aside, and ignoring for the moment the very shady / potentially illegal business practices going on in some parts of the industry, the truth is that Corporate Beer is using crafty brands as a way to limit the beer options available to consumers.
I like it. Nice for travelling although asking a bartender what’s local works too
Perhaps catergorizing beers as " innovator " or “imitator” would be better phrasing
Although local doesn’t necessarily mean independent.
That’s not accurate. The macros are plenty innovative.
I don’t know how old you are but I started drinking beer in the mid eighties and all the Macro s were innovating was advertising campaigns to convince us to drink thin bland swill
The main reason I started brewing was that I couldn’t easily find beer that I liked
I’ve spent 30 plus years perfecting my craft and educating my friends about what is possible with beer and brewing
That is why I choose not to support the Molsons/Coors Annhieser Busch type brewers