I just read this comment about the trailer on YouTube : “This is such propaganda! Why is Jim Koch talking about his products when everyone knows that most of the Sam Adams line is contract brewed by Miller. In addition, he is one of the largest brewers in the country. I personally like a lot of different styles of beer, and I think it is up to the consumer as to what they drink. You can’t sit here and tell me that every micro brew out there would not like to sell more of their product! The elitist attitudes will destroy the craft beer movement.”
Wow. This guy is certainly passionate. And some of his comments were echoed by people I met at screenings and panels over the past few weeks.
One thing is certain. There is no singular craft beer enthusiast. And perceptions vary widely.
There are many who believe that craft beer should stay small and local. Some believe that craft beer should not be made by corporations. But on one of the panels, all 5 brewers admitted that their breweries/brewpubs were all… corporations. Seems like those people feel less connected once “their” discovery brand gets “too big” and move on to the next small brand. But that’s a contradiction. All breweries are businesses (that’s why some homebrewers see going “pro” as the next step) and therefore want to get bigger. Bigger means making more beer to satisfy consumer demand. And just because they get bigger doesn’t mean they’re sacrificing quality or their soul. I think Sam Calagione addresses this issue eloquently in the film when he contemplates expansion. And by the way, Boston Beer (maker of Sam Adams) is less than 1% of the US beer market so size is relative.
I believe that consumers should drink what they like. Period. Regardless of the size of the brewery. It’s all about personal choice. I have nothing against BudMillerCoors. Even craft brewers admit that there’s nothing better on a really hot summer day. I think that choice is personal. Buy products from companies whose quality appeals to you. And if you care, whose ethics match yours.
More from the panels/audience Q&A to come.
Tags: BudMillerCoors, screenings
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Very nice write-up including the post from the previous comment. Knowledge is everything. I think that if you’re going to experiment with new brews, the best way to do it is with a knowledgeable person with. I like the beer shop enthusiast, which is why I enjoy shopping at a particular shop. Anyway…I hate being fooled into buying trashy tasting beer. I was a bit disappointed when I bought the Costco Craft Beer, which I assumed would be better than it was. The Co-packer for the Costco brew didn’t ring a bell, but I’ll look into it one of these days. Thanks for the good post! Beer Wars…a must see for anyone that interested in business, especially consumer food product manufacturing.
I’m really passionate about beer too, but I think some of these beer nerds equate brewing with an art and that success equals selling out. While I would agree that brewing is indeed an art, it’s a business first and foremost.
If you run a micro or craft brewery and one of the Big 3 or just a bigger brewery wants to buy and sell your stuff why WOULDN’T you go for it? It’s illogical not to want to make more money. HOWEVER, if the caveat of such a deal is that you lose creative control and/or ownership of your product then that is indeed “selling out.” I find it difficult to believe that Miller told Jim Koch “we’ll brew your beer for you but we’re going to do it OUR way since we know what’s better for Samuel Adams and its customers than YOU do.”
“Even craft brewers admit that there’s nothing better on a really hot summer day”
I think there are several who would disagree with that. A lighter lager, sure. But I imagine Greg or some of the folks from IAACB would much prefer a Shiner Smokehaus to BudMillerCoors beverage.
I have always found the Jim Koch “controversy” really interesting. For me, it has been one of the most enlightening points of the Beer Wars conversation. See, by all _objective_ standards (even the government, until about September of this year when his 2 millionth barrel rolls off the line) Sam is a craft brewery. Whatever your standard: Diverse styles, regional, some “big momma beers (Utopia)”, tastiness, support of the industry, etc. Sam Adams is a craft brewery.
I do however, feel that odd dissatisfaction with them. And the beer wars conversation has brought out why to me – it’s because craft brewing is more than an objective sentiment. It’s a mindset, an ideal. Jim has made a variety of decisions that make people with the craft brewing paradigm take a very brief pause – brewing out of major brewhouses, even when the beer was getting started. Marketing himself as a regional beer and brewing out of the region. Brewing a diversity of styles that are merely examples of the style instead of creative expressions of them, etc.
But most importantly, they’re big. Huge for a craft brewery. 1% of the market share certainly isn’t much when you compare it with BudMillerCoors but it’s gigantic when you compare it with Russian River, Lost Abbey, 512 or Live Oak. There is a certain amount of well-deserved snobbery in craft beer. We take pride in discovering unadvertised, exciting new brews and loving them and prostletyzing them and helping the beer grow. Sam doesn’t need our help. They don’t need our voice, and they somewhat rarely give us anything to proselytize about.
It’s amusing, because it’s something I’ve always mocked people for in music. “Oh, I liked them before they were big.” And once they get big, you turn your attention to something new and more underground. The same attitude is present in a lot of craft brew aficionados. I’m not sure it’s inherently bad or inherently good, but it’s a characteristic of the industry. A characteristic of which I think we need to figure out the “why” for the industry to effectively advance. And that’s a question I think this conversation can start to explore effectively.
Selling more does not necessarily equal selling out. Sam Adams makes a wide range of really solid beers. And Stone’s philosophy of a brewer’s Intent as the difference is important. Stone’s selling more without compromising their beliefs. Same for Dogfish Head. More power to them.
“All breweries are businesses… and therefore want to get bigger.”
That doesn’t necessarily follow. All businesses want to be *profitable*, sure, but that’s not the same thing.
Consider Langlitz Leathers, which is a family-owned and operated business in Portland, OR. They make leather motorcycle jackets, widely thought to be the best of their kind in the world. They sell enough to make a profit and keep their staff of a dozen or so well off.
They went through a period of extremely high demand a few years back, when movie stars and studio execs all decided they wanted Langlitz’ jackets. But Langlitz never expanded. The waiting list got to be as much as a year long, but Langlitz saw that a short-term thing, and didn’t see the tradeoff between making their staff bigger and less personal vs higher production as worth it.
Even in the beer world — Silver City Brewing, in Silverdale, WA, is known for not distributing their bottled beer very far because they feel serving the demand at their brewpub comes first, and they don’t feel much like expanding.
As long as everyone in the venture makes enough to live well, there is no *need* for a company to expand. American business has gotten wrapped up in a mythos of perpetual growth mostly because *some* have a deep-rooted psychological need for being ever-more-important, and those few have persuaded many who have no such yearning that “this is the way business is done.”
A profitable business is not necessarily a growing business. A growing business is not necessarily a profitable business. The two qualities are entirely separate from each other.
Love it love it love it. Beer as well as those people bold enough to stand up against the corporate monoliths who tell us what we should like. I am a proud drinker of craft beer, I support and applaud this movement…it is more American than Budweiser will ever be!
Cheers!
Well first off, Samuel Adams was only contract brewed at the North Carolina Miller Brewery because demand overloaded the its breweries, but with the recent purchase of a brewery in Eastern Pa the beer is produced in house.
Read your take on beer distribution in BEER ADVOCATE. Unless you’re a real micro geek, keep out of the beer wars dispute. ‘Beers gone wild’ is for geeks only!
I haven’t got anything against big distributors or great breweries getting their beer out to more people. In fact I wish brewers like Stone or Dogfish Head would get even BIGGER so that more people would know what GOOD beer tastes like. On the flip side to that I hate being lied to by places like Sam Adams that try to convince me that they’re a micro brew. What’s more I can honestly say that every beer I’ve had from them has been uninspired. They have a general disability to reach for true greatness and uniqueness in brewing. While they brew more varieties of beer than the Big 3 the way they go about brewing is the same logic. “Let’s make something middle of the road so that it will appeal to the most people.”… never mind doing something truly unique and amazing.