Surprising no one who’s been paying attention, the Brewers Association today announced the revision of the definition of what it means to be a craft brewery, at least as far as the trade organization is concerned. In order to advocate for any specific group, it’s useful to know who is eligible to be a member. In 1976, Congress arbitrarily chose 2 million barrels for a tax differential and ever since the part of the definition that denoted a “small” brewery has been one making less than 2 million barrels annually.
From the BA press release:
In the BA’s craft brewer definition, the term “small” now refers to any independent brewery that produces up to 6 million barrels of traditional beer. The previous definition capped production at 2 million barrels.
The association cited several reasons for the change, including the recognition that “small” is a descriptive term relative to the overall size of the industry.
“Thirty-four years have passed since the original small brewers tax differential defined small brewers as producing less than 2 million barrels,” said Nick Matt, chair of the Brewers Association board of directors and chairman and CEO of F.X. Matt Brewing Company. “A lot has changed since 1976. The largest brewer in the U.S. has grown from 45 million barrels to 300 million barrels of global beer production.”
Matt added, “The craft brewer definition and bylaws now more accurately reflect and align with our government affairs efforts.” On the legislative front in 2010, the Brewers Association supported H.R. 4278/S. 3339, which sought to update the cap on an excise tax differential for small brewers to 6 million barrels per year in production for their first 2 million barrels.
Retaining Market Share for Craft Brewers
The industry’s largest craft brewer, The Boston Beer Company, is poised to become the first craft brewer to surpass 2 million barrels of traditional beer within the next few years. Loss of The Boston Beer Company’s production in craft brewing industry statistics would inaccurately reflect on the craft brewing industry’s market share.
In addition to Boston Beer, the current growth trajectory of other sizable BA member breweries places them on a course approaching the 2 million barrel threshold in the coming years.
“With this change to the craft brewer definition and BA bylaws, statistics will continue to accurately reflect the 30-year growth of market share for craft brewed beer,” said Matt. “Brewers Association statistics on craft brewers will continue to keep pace with the growth of the industry.”
Craft brewed beer market share is now approximately five percent of the U.S. beer industry, and growing. The BA has a stated mission of helping America’s craft brewers achieve more than five percent market share by 2013.
Matt added, “Rather than removing members due to their success, the craft brewing industry should be celebrating our growth.”
I wonder if a contribution to BA from Jim Koch was involved in this new definition. To me BA lost credibility with this move. Why not just define craft as everyone but SA/Miller, Coors and InBev? That’s truly the meaning to most.
I may have to agree with ‘first stater’ on this. I wouldn’t consider a brewery selling and producing 82,000,000 cases of beer to be “small”. I’m not saying that Boston Beer shouldn’t be a member or that the BA shouldn’t be free to define itself in a way that limits membership. I simply take issue with using the term “small” as it is misleading to consumers and policy makers.
With an annual production capacity of 70 barrels per year, I’m not even a gnat on the windshield of craft beer!
All brewing is a craft- who cares about the barrel volume. The misunderstanding of differentiating craft from the big brewers is ignorant and no good for the industry. We define beer by volume and amateur, ignorant opinions of the sensory characteristics. Most other intrinsically beautiful things are judges on many variables that makes up it inherent perceptive value. One of them should be consistency, difficulty of brewing, understanding that the deconstruction of flavor is more difficult to create then the opposite- ask any vodka distiller. Teaching someone to brew a great amber ale on their stove top is relatively simple to do. Try to teach them to brew a consistent, clean, crisp, refreshing American Light or Standard Lager on their stove top- good luck. The intrinsic beauty of a beer should only be judge on how well it fulfills the occasion in which it is to be enjoyed. If it is 100 degrees outside and I am working hard, then I hate to say it but an American Light Lager is exponentially better FOR THAT OCCASION than say a Dark Lord or thee Westvleteren 12. However, the opinions of most “beer geeks” is one that is very shallow and ignorant and therefore occasion is not even understood let alone included as the most important variable of the equation. ALL BEER IS GOOD BEER IT IS THE OCCASION IN WHICH IT IS CONSUMED THAT DEFINES IT BEAUTY- who cares about how much is brewed.
Yuengling, America’s Newest Craft Brewery. Tell Dick to change his advertising campaign.
Yeah, I’m not down with this. Small has to actually be on an even scale to a degree. It’s like taking a five point performance scale and only use 4 or 5 to rate a person’s performance. I’ve seen it in the Air Force. It has clearly defined performance levels that many meet at each numerical value. I’ve never known anyone to score an overall 3 or less. Maybe a 3 in ONE of several category, but never a 3 overall. 4s and 5s are the norms. It’s become good and less good. I’ve seen on many occasions stores with salsa ranging from Mild to Medium (with nothing in between). What happened to Hot? Is Medium the new Hot or is Hot just harder to come by? It’s also interesting how I’ve grown in circumference over the years a little, but I sometime wear the same size I wore in high school. I also find a SMALL in some shirts excessively baggy on me (I’m 6’1″ and not a rail) when a Large worked normally 15 years ago.
This 2 to 6 million barrel change for “small” is doing the same thing. Not a smart move BA. Maybe a move to geographic coverage would be a better ranking system with numerical output as a qualifier after the fact, e.g. Site only, Town/City/Village/Ant Hill, District, Regional, National, International. Something more than Craft Beer=small, Big Guys Before the 90s=big. Small and large should be left up to the individual. Sorry, but Boston Beer and Sierra shouldn’t be in the same bracket as Bayern, Yazoo and Great Divide; just like those three shouldn’t be in the small size club as an on-site only brew pub. Let’s stick to facts like they product X amount to Y area. Some people have a hard time grasping geologic time (some A LOT more than others). 4.5 billion years is a long time. I spent 15 minutes at a cash register today trying to return a single $5 item not removed from factory packaging with a receipt and that felt like a long time. Adjectives are very subjective. Finite measurements aren’t nearly as much.
Oh, and I’m sorry, but an American Light Lager (AKA colored water and some ethanol) never has a proper place crossing my tongue. I guess some people need something like water when it’s hard–here’s a novel idea, drink WATER then so you don’t dehydrate faster–but I can drink and enjoy an imperial stout or Doppelbock on a 98F, 98% humidity day. But then again, I’m not doing it WHILE I’m working. Also beer at a noon four hour baseball in August doesn’t sound like a good idea either–well, unless you’re in a fancy A/C box.
Make that *when it’s hot*, not “hard”. Must have been thinking working hard in the heat and that’s all that made it to my fingers.