The world of beer is shifting beneath our feet, and you can probably thank Al Gore’s movie for kicking it off. The environmentally conscious, sustainability focussed, clean eating beer drinker of 2016 isn’t reaching for a VB anymore. It’s craft beer or bust for those in the know. But what makes craft beer different from your average Lager?

Defining craft beer can be a touchy subject. Don’t get me wrong it’s an important question, but unfortunately the answer can lead you down a rabbit hole to nowhere. The controversy over the term has grown recently as a result of larger breweries seeking to enter the craft beer market, making finding a true definition really important.

Broadly, any definition of craft beer takes into account:

1. The scale of production

2. Ingredients and brewing techniques

3. The philosophy behind the beer

Production: Profit or Perfection?

Whether it’s the Craft Beer Industry Association of Australia, or the Brewers Association of Boulder Colorado in the US, the scale of production matters when brewing craft beer. In Australia, the industry standard to be defined as a craft brewery, is a production level of less than 40 million litres per year. To give that some context - as early as 2009, CUB were producing approximately one 24 pack slab of VB every second. That’s almost 300 million litres per year.

But to be honest, craft brewers are the same as their mega-brewery competitors - they like to make a profit (and that’s OK). Some craft beers are so popular that they are pushing or even exceeding the previously defined production limit. So while the scale of production might be a good place to start, it’s far from the only defining characteristic. There are more important factors to making craft beer.

Behind the Brew: Quality and Craft

Let’s not get confused, craft beer is now a global movement which focusses the attention on brewers in a way which harks back to the pre-industrialised world. Large brewers rely on economies of scale to produce low cost, high volume beer for the masses. This approach cannot work for the small volumes of a craft brewery. Therefore craft brewers are forced to rely on the quality of their product, which is derived from the ingredients used and the techniques they employ.

"Craft beer is the product of traditional brewing techniques and quality ingredients, which result in a beer style that is unique with a distinctive flavour."

There are four traditional ingredients used in brewing - Water, Malt, Hops and Yeast. Some modern mega-brewers may require additional ingredients to fit their production scale, like preservatives to ensure the longevity of their product. However craft beer is brewed using only these four ingredients (maybe throw some mandarin, ginger or orange into the mix), so the quality of each matters.

Take water as an example. Some of Europe’s best breweries have historically depended on the quality of water at their disposal. As an example, the creation of the Pilsner style lager only came about because of the soft-water that flows through Plzen in the Czech Republic. By focussing on the ingredients at their disposal, craft brewers are returning to a time where the quality of the product was the driving factor through each stage of production. Couple this with the shifting attitude towards how people think about their food (and beer), and you can start to see why craft beer is on the rise.

Craft beer is the product of traditional brewing techniques and quality ingredients, which result in a beer style that is unique with a distinctive flavour. Brewers focus on sourcing quality ingredients, and take a hands on approach to brewing to give their brew the edge. It’s this focus on quality at every stage - from sourcing ingredients to brewing technique, that sets a craft brewer apart.

Let’s get philosophical

There is more to craft beer and brewing than just producing a delicious, thirst quenching beverage. It represents a movement away from mass-produced economies of scale. Across both the food and beverage industries, consumers are moving towards sustainably sourced, local, and seasonally available products. This movement has, and continues to bleed into the beer industry, and is driving the growth in popularity craft beer is experiencing.

However it’s not just about the brews themselves. There are significant differences in the businesses and people behind the beers.

Big time brewers in Australia (and around the world) have noticed the growth in the craft beer industry, and are starting to follow the dollars. Recognising craft beer as competition has resulted in a number of acquisitions of craft brewers by major companies. In December 2015 alone, Anheuser-Busch InBev acquired craft brewers Arizona’s Four Peaks Brewing Company, the UK’s Camden Town Brewery and Colorado’s Breckenridge Brewery. For craft brewers, acquisition is fundamentally incompatible with production quality. This is also reflected in their customers, as a recent study by Bloomberg found six out of 10 drinkers thought a brewer’s independence is important when picking a craft beer.

This goes to the heart of what craft beer really is. It’s not just about small time operations, perfect ingredients and sublime brewing techniques - it’s so much more. Craft brewers are forging their own independent brands and brews without the need for huge marketing campaigns and corporate backing. They rely on quality products, using quality ingredients made the right way. They are the libertarian freethinkers of the beer industry. They are fiercely independent - rising and falling on the back of the quality of their product.  

So, what is craft beer?

If you can’t define craft beer by what it’s not, you certainly can start listing the things that it is. So here goes:

Craft Beer:

• Has a production scale smaller than 40 million litres (most of the time)

• Is made from quality sourced ingredients, using traditional brewing techniques

• Prioritises quality over quantity

• Is owned independently of mega-brewers

• Is part of a wider (dare I say global) movement of consumers who consciously choose to support local, independent, sustainable and quality products.

In short - craft beer is the future!