Tuatara got me into craft beer and are local, so quality is less important as they now have my blind loyalty The Ardennes was the first beer I had that made me realise I shouldn’t have dismissed all beers as being like lagers from the supermarket.

Emerson’s is my choice for the most solid range of beers… While I may have favourites in each style from other breweries, I can’t think of any NZ brewery who has as wide a range a beers, at decent prices, that I can safely assume I’m going to enjoy – and then they bring out some awesome Brewer’s Reserves as well.

…and then there is Epic, the brewery that is going to one day see me at a meeting with similarly minded people, standing up the front and stating “Hi, my name’s Simon and I’m a hopoholic.” Looking forward to heading down to Hashigo tonight to toast Epic’s success with a Epicurean Coffee & Fig, Mash Up and a Larger (if it makes it onto the taps tonight).

So, thanks and cheers to the great breweries above… and all the others that have made my last few years of NZ beer drinking awesome. Yes, I’m looking at you Brewaucracy Punkin Image Ltd… amongst many others.

Keep in mind here: “Promote” and “Protect”.

In their infinite craft beer wisdom, the ABA has defined size, independence and being traditional as what measures of a craft brewer are.

To me, this is an exercise in defining market specific beer taxonomies to allow for focused support around those breweries that do not have access to the same resources as global giants.

It’s meant to help (in many ways – too many to go into detail here) the small guy grow and yes, that means if all goes well, they will get bigger. Bigger doesn’t necessarily mean evil. I don’t think that was mentioned in the argument anywhere. Though the reality is the big companies can do evil (immoral, illegal & other questionable or predatory business tactics) and when they do, who will look after the little guy?

Right now we have two big players in Australia. Wouldn’t we be better off with more competition? Competition is good right? I’d like to see some hard and fast means for the small guys to gain support and leveraging the “craft brewer” brand is one of them.

In the US, the ABA effectively acts as a lobby group to aid craft brewers to propose legislative change, fight legal battles and organise a range of marketing events such as the GABF to spread word about the hundreds of breweries they have.

It’s just plain wrong when a big player uses the term craft to try and look like the small guy. Why don’t they create their own brand – “big boy, yummy beers” anyone?

You ask why size should be a relative factor to defining the term “craft”. Well, size is a common factor in understanding relationships and dynamics in all sorts of economic areas. It allows for perspective. The kind of perspective that shows who is small and who isn’t with respect to the size of a market.

Our government here in Australia spends countless billions on providing financial support to people who are relatively worse off than others. The so called “working class families” and pensioners.

Working class is a relative term and it’s based upon a minimum annual income relative to salaries in Australia. It would be different to other economies around the world.

This same perspective shows us the AUS/NZ beer market is a few percentage points of the global market. So within our market, logically you’d think we should have our own specific measures of size (production volume) when discussing domestic trade.

Quality doesn’t sound like a good dimension for defining “craft brewer” because both small and big can make good and bad beer. It’s not a reliable means for segmentation, unlike a hard rule on production volume and percentage corporate ownership. What’s good and bad is also mostly subjective, so I think you’d struggle to create your special beer measurement focus group.

Keep in mind here: “Promote” and “Protect”.

In their infinite craft beer wisdom, the ABA has defined size, independence and being traditional as what measures of a craft brewer are.

To me, this is an exercise in defining market specific beer taxonomies to allow for focused support around those breweries that do not have access to the same resources as global giants.

It’s meant to help (in many ways – too many to go into detail here) the small guy grow and yes, that means if all goes well, they will get bigger. Bigger doesn’t necessarily mean evil. I don’t think that was mentioned in the argument anywhere. Though the reality is the big companies can do evil (immoral, illegal & other questionable or predatory business tactics) and when they do, who will look after the little guy?

Right now we have two big players in Australia. Wouldn’t we be better off with more competition? Competition is good right? I’d like to see some hard and fast means for the small guys to gain support and leveraging the “craft brewer” brand is one of them.

The the US, the ABA effectively acts as a lobby group to aid craft brewers to propose legislative change, fight legal battles and organise a range of marketing events such as the GABF to spread word about the hundreds of breweries they have.

It’s just plain wrong when a big player uses the term craft to try and look like the small guy. Why don’t they create their own brand – “big boy, yummy beers” anyone?

You ask why size should be a relative factor to defining the term “craft”. Well, size is a common factor in understanding relationships and dynamics in all sorts of economic areas. It allows for perspective. The kind of perspective that shows who is small and who isn’t with respect to the size of a market.

Our government here in Australia spends countless billions on providing financial support to people who are relatively worse off than others. The so called “working class families” and pensioners.

Working class is a relative term and it’s based upon a minimum annual income relative to salaries in Australia. It would be different to other economies around the world.

This same perspective shows us the AUS/NZ beer market is a few percentage points of the global market. So within our market, logically you’d think we should have our own specific measures of size (production volume) when discussing domestic trade.

Quality doesn’t sound like a good dimension for defining “craft brewer” because both small and big can make good and bad beer. It’s not a reliable means for segmentation, unlike a hard rule on production volume and percentage corporate ownership. What’s good and bad is also mostly subjective, so I think you’d struggle to create your special beer measurement focus group.

Similar to “artisan”. I just can’t see for example that Mainlands could create an artisan cheese.

Oh, and see my reply to Peter above. I believe quality must include an aesthetic component. The beer must have character (in a good way), and this must count heavily toward the quality rating.

If you accept that (and I understand you may not), then quality is a good measure. Nobody would ever set out to craft something rubbish (unless making some kind of statement). Aesthetic pleasure is part of quality, hence you can have a clean and technically flawless beer which wouldn’t make the cut as it’s considered dull and unworthy of the monicker. Given this part is highly subjective, the only thing that matters is that it is judged “by the market”. That way, it doesn’t matter what you may personally think a craft beer is, if “most people” say it’s craft, it’s craft. With your Steinlager example, this is where organisations like SOBA come in. As we teach people to taste, and appreciate flavour, that 75% figure who think Steinlager is a craft beer will fall, and it will cease to be defined as one. The thing I like about this definition is that it can change with people’s opinions, yet it can be easily measured with a number.

I hope that clarifies my view a bit.

I wonder if the use of the word “Craft” is actually incorrect in this instance. What you say is “Craft” = “Quality”. Is this a fair conclusion? If we compare Craft Brewing with another craft, how does it actually compare? My wife is a weaver and active in the weaving groups (They are called craft groups!) How does a rug Made in China compare to a rug made by one of those craft weavers? Quite often to be honest,the one made in China is a better quality. The one made by the weaver in New Zealand is still a craft made rug.

Your attempt to define craft brewing based on quality could also lead to i.e. Steinlager being a craft brew. I am sure more than 75% of consumers might agree it is at or above some baseline don’t you think?

To me any craft is distinguished by the method it is produced. Mostly hand made rather than produced in some big factory. (there is the size argument again) Traditional methods define a craft for me. And yes, the love for the craft and the product by the crafts people. Some might even use the word “Passion”.

Its a bit like buying a bag of frozen carrots from Pams or buying carrots from the farmer at the farmers market. Both might be same quality. But I rather buy from the farmer because I think they taste better.