The goal of any small business is to grow into a bigger business. But when your whole image is based on being small and crafty, this can pose a quite a pickle. Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and Sam Adams were small craft breweries once, but are they still? What about increasingly popular breweries like New Belgium, Dogfish Head, and Rogue?
According to a recent report on NPR, the solution for some of these breweries is to build new breweries in other locations across the country. New Belgium and Sierra Nevada are both building breweries in North Carolina, for instance. This expansion allows the breweries to continue crafting small-batch beers (or at least "small" as compared to mass-produced Bud and Miller) while still meeting the demand in markets far from their main breweries.
But this kind of solution poses other problems. The NPR report points out that water is a big factor in the flavor and character of a craft beer, so will these expansion breweries chemically treat their North Carolina water to duplicate the water sources around which their beers were originally crafted? Does this start to veer away from the idea of a locally-produced craft beer? As long as the quality of the beer remains consistent, does it really matter?
These are some big questions, and new ones for many craft breweries who have merely been scraping by up until now. The craft beer boom in the past ten years has created the kind of demand — and potential profits — that Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada and Jim Koch of Sam Adams could only dream of back in the 80's. It will be interesting to see how these craft breweries deal with their newfound popularity and corresponding demand.
Is the only choice to stay small and crafty, or is it possible to go big and crafty, too? What do you think?
• Read the Article: To Grow a Craft Beer Business, the Secret's in the Water by Bill Chappell
Related: Can Craft Beer Save the Economy?
(Image: Emma Christensen)
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There will be a lot of debate about this. To me, bottom line is that "craft" is not the right label anymore, because "craft" is the opposite of "mass". The "good" beer industry started as craft, i.e. small, but is now growing up. Sure you can bend the definitions of how big can craft be, or how small mass-produced can be, but better terms like "good" beer, "delicious" beer, or "quality" beer I think are the true reflectors of what craft is doing. Is it possible to mass-produce delicious beer? Yes. Is it possible for a small craft brewery to expand to two locations and continue to make "quality" beer? Yes. Does chemically re-creating the water profile in a new location lessen the "good"-ness of a beer? No.
Constant innovation in addition to keeping the quality of the brews they are known for. Take Stone Brewery for example... Not only are they always trying out new recipes, but they also collaborate with other craft breweries all over the country. When is the last time you heard of and of the fizzy yellow beer companies getting together to make something truly unique?
Come to San Diego, take their free tour, and see what makes craft brewing great.
And for a direct example of how fizzy yellow beer is nowhere near the craft or artform of any microbrew, I only need to point you in the direction of the Miller 'Vortex Bottle' (because it tastes so bad people actually need to get it out of the bottle faster?) or Bud Light Platinum (increased alcohol without increased flavor... oh boy, now the frat boys and bros can get more drunk in less time).
Yuck.
I think none of the breweries listed in this article would be called craft anymore. At one point, sure. I think closest would be Dogfish, but to me, once you've got a series on tv, you're not the small unknown company doing it for the love of the craft anymore.
It always urks me and my husband when someone treats Sam Adams or beers trying to trick people into thinking they're craft like Shock Top, for instance. Looks craft brewed but really mass made by good ol Budweiser though they advertise it intentionally hiding who makes it. I've lived near small local breweries making really unique cool beers and then I've seen things like the new Angry Orchard ciders popping up everywhere. Looks like a good, small US company. No where on the label does it say mass made by Sam Adams. It's the deception of it that bothers me.
For me, a brewery stops being "craft" when they put quantity of production ahead of quality of ingredients and technique. I like the idea of opening another brewery in a separate part of the country to ease distribution. Chemically treating the water seems excessive, but I understand they want to maintain as much consistency as possible. Hey, whatever gets exciting new beer to Texas is okay with me!
I never associated craft beer with small, local breweries but with quality. When I buy a craft beer, I don't care how big the business is or how many bottles are made a day. I care how good the beer is. Craft beer, to me at least, is special, quality beer. Who cares how many square feet the factory is? As long as the product it good, it shouldn't matter! Sierra Nevada and Sam Adams are still craft beers, in my book.
While I would love to have New Belgium's beers available on the east coast I will never try them because they are opening a plant in a right to work state.