Beer Fraud - Phony Craft Beer [General]

2011 Sep 23
Yes this always annoyed me to no end when my parents has a microbrewery.....

The big boys pretending to be micros makes it difficult for people to swallow the higher price point for REAL micro brew beer.

Thanks for posting :) sent the link to my dad too!

2011 Sep 23
Curious - what brewery does your dad own?

2011 Sep 24
He did own Heritage and Scotch Irish, but sold in December to Paul who runs kichesippi.

We had a great decade in the brewing business, fond memories, glad some of the craziness is over though. Was amazing to see a man in his retirement go from being a business executive and software business owner, switch gears and pursue his passion for beer. Never seen my dad happier in his life :)

2011 Sep 24
Aha, then I interviewed with your dad (and mom?) this time last year for a sales position :-)

2011 Sep 25
Funny :)

Yep that would have been Ron and Donna.

2011 Sep 25
Really don't like the definition of "craft beer" given in the article. Craft beer does not mean "anything that I like". Ontario has more than a few really crap micro-breweries that are certainly craft breweries. Moreover, the idea that the guys and girls working at InBev or MolsonCoors don't have passion is just plain BS. Be nice if the beer world could concentrate on quality vs. swill instead of falling prey to the authenticity silliness that characterises so much discussion about food these days.

2011 Sep 25
yes quality as in actual grain instead of ample amounts of corn syrup.....yep that would be good.

2011 Sep 25
You are right Brian that there are definitely points in the article to argue with - though we do all know that what they are basically talking about is in fact true.

One point I always quibble with is the use of adjuncts - e.g. corn, rice and other non-malted-barley grains (oatmeal stout, anyone?)

Rice and corn can have their place in good craft beers. In fact their are 2 "revived" styles very popular amongst home brewers, which have a considerable amount of corn. These are "Classic American Cream Ale" or "CACA" (yes, for reals :)) and "Classic American Pils" or "CAP". When done properly these beers can be absolutely spectacular. I once spent about 2 years doing nothing but brewing these beers and I could not have been happier.

2011 Sep 26
I'm liking how many of the smaller breweries list the ingredients on the label. That's because there's usually no more than 4 or 5. I'd like to see mandatory ingredient labelling on all alcoholic beverages, I think people would be surprised to see what's in their drink.

For example, here is what's permitted in beer in Canada:
laws-lois.justice.gc.ca,_c._870/page-60.html#h-63

2011 Sep 26
Yeah and that is just the short list, note that a number of those items actually comprise long lists themselves. I've read it is about 130 ingredients allowed.

In Quebec in the 70s ( or 60s ? ) there were a number of deaths due to an ingredient that was allowed in beer. There is something about it in the CBC archives on beer.

archives.cbc.ca