Oct. 12, 2011 - Issue #834: Protest in the riot

To the Pint

Big fat phonies

Keep an eye out for fake "craft" beer

When is craft beer not really craft beer? It may seem like a simple question, but increasingly it can be difficult to tell. These days I am hearing more and more stories about someone picking up a six-pack of some new craft beer they never heard of only to discover when tasting that it is nothing of the sort. I call it pseudo-craft beer—beer packaged and marketed to mimic craft beer but with none of the quality and passion.
I define pseudo-craft as a beer sold to obfuscate rather than illuminate. Instead of proudly displaying the beer's ingredients, process, style and ownership, the marketing attempts to hide the real origins of the beer and confuse the buyer about what it really is. The most famous example is Alexander Keith's India Pale Ale. As I have mentioned before, this beer is not an IPA, which should be hoppy with a light toasty malt. It isn't even an ale; it is a pale lager. The name is used to make the consumer believe they are getting something other than a pale lager. Thus it obfuscates.
I mention this now because I am seeing a growing trend in pseudo-craft, and am concerned by it. A real craft beer is brewed with an eye to tradition. It eschews the use of cheap adjuncts like corn syrup and rice. When naming a beer, it tries to identify accurately what you will get, either by naming it after the style it roughly represents, or by indicating what they were aiming for. And it tries to be upfront about who they are and what they do, keeping the unavoidable marketing hyperbole to a tolerable minimum.
The big boys have done pseudo-craft for years. Their Keith's and Rickard's brands are clear examples of trumped-up craft credentials. However, they are upping their efforts at cracking the craft market lately. The reason is that the craft segment is the only beer market experiencing growth. Sales of standard lager are in decline. So they need to find a way into the only bullish market.

The latest salvo was Molson-Coors' announcement this summer of a new branch called Six Pints devoted to craft beer. It won't brew anything. There will be no new breweries or a new breed of craft beer. Instead it will market new "craft brands" created at the usual Molson operations. It is also the holding company for Creemore and Granville Island, both of which it now owns. My guess is that this is the first manoeuvre in a nascent pseudo-craft-beer war between Molson-Coors and AB Inbev (Labatt).
To be clear, pseudo-ness is not about ownership. Creemore, Granville Island and Unibroue (owned by Sapporo) all continue to be craft breweries because they make beer (and sell it) using craft principles. Conversely, in my opinion independently owned Minhas Craft Brewery (to use one example available in Alberta)—makers of Mountain Crest, Swiss Amber, Lazy Mutt, 1845 pils and others—falls into the pseudo-craft camp. Why? Well, let me lay out some facts, as well as the answers I received from co-owner Manjit Minhas when I spoke with her about it. And then you can decide for yourself.
The comapny promotes itself as an Alberta brewing company. Its brewery is located in Wisconsin. Minhas says corporate offices and brewing location are separate concerns. "There is manufacturing and then there is marketing. Manufacturing is global now. That is a reality."
The website proclaims a "brewing tradition since 1845." Even though the building has operated since that date, Minhas bought the brewery in 2006. Minhas says the company has seen no confusion about the claim.
Other than Mountain Crest, the company promotes most of its beer as "craft beer." The packaging looks like a craft brewery's. The names reflect traditional beer styles—bock, pils, amber ale, farmhouse ale, IPA, Oktoberfest. I have sampled many of them and my experience is the beer does not align with the style promised on the label. Minhas acknowledges the beer doesn't match the promised styles: "Each brewery has its own style and taste. Everyone has to decide what works for their customer. Our bock is lighter. If it was a traditional bock, they wouldn't finish the bottle."
Do they use adjuncts? Minhas won't say. In my tasting, many of the beer present that distinct flavour I associate with the addition of corn sugar.
I also find it can be frustrating determining the origin of Minhas beer. I was in a pub recently that had an unfamiliar stout on tap. The bartender had no idea who brewed it. Repeated web searches revealed nothing. It took quite a bit of investigative work on my part to find out it was brewed at Minhas's brewery in Wisconsin. I must wonder about the secrecy.
What difference does all this make? Maybe none. But my opinion is that beer consumers have a right to know what they are drinking. And they shouldn't have to be Hercule Poirot to find out. Honest marketing is about transparency. If a brewery fails that test, I believe you should be thinking hard about whether you should be giving them any of your money. V vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus