“A few years ago, California resident and beer aficionado Evan Parent learned that Blue Moon was actually made by MillerCoors.” He’s signed up as a named plaintiff in a class action lawsuit saying the brew shouldn’t have been labeled a craft beer given its maker and the volume of its production. A beverage lawyer says there is no standard for what counts as a craft beer. [Washington Examiner]
11 Comments
I vaguely remember from the Dogfish Head brewery tour in Rehoboth that there’s a trade group for “craft brewers” with some maximum volume per year, but as far as I know it’s internal to the industry. It’s certainly not an FDA-style “cheese” vs. “cheese food product” issue.
What I don’t understand is how one can show that there’s more than one person who would pay a premium for beer coming from a smaller brewer that tastes the same as one coming from a larger brewer. Ascertainability seems like a high hurdle here.
Heh. If that’s the current standard for a redress of our grievances, I should be able to sue GM for billing the current crop of Cadillacs as “luxury cars”. I mean, really, Blue Moon isn’t special or particularly interesting, but it certainly isn’t anything to get worked up over. Oh, wait, I forgot- flimsy money making opportunity against deep pockets in a sue-happy legal system.
one good measure of a craft beer is that it shouldn’t taste like reconstituted goat urine.
I’d be interested to learn the circumstances under which someone who made this claim became an expert in what reconstituted goat urine tastes like.
Bob
Not so, ps. The beauty of craft beer is that it is a vigorous and creative movement offering up brews that frequently appeal to only a small minority of tastes. One man’s tepid Blue Moon may well be another’s prized goat urine!
>one good measure of a craft beer is that it shouldn’t taste like reconstituted goat urine.
I don’t think that’s fair to Blue Moon – it doesn’t taste reconstituted…
one good measure of a craft beer is that it shouldn’t taste like reconstituted goat urine.
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I’d be interested to learn the circumstances under which someone who made this claim became an expert in what reconstituted goat urine tastes like.
And for sure, by that standard you’re leaving out 1/2 the worlds beer,
Blue Moon isn’t beer. It has wheat and oats, as well as orange peel. An alcoholic beverage brewed with ale yeast, certainly, but beer it is not.
“We hereby proclaim and decree, by Authority of our Province, that henceforth in the Duchy of Bavaria, in the country as well as in the cities and marketplaces, the following rules apply to the sale of beer:
“From Michaelmas to Georgi, the price for one Mass [Bavarian Liter 1,069] or one Kopf [bowl-shaped container for fluids, not quite one Mass], is not to exceed one Pfennig Munich value, and
“From Georgi to Michaelmas, the Mass shall not be sold for more than two Pfennig of the same value, the Kopf not more than three Heller [Heller usually one-half Pfennig].
“If this not be adhered to, the punishment stated below shall be administered.
“Should any person brew, or otherwise have, other beer than March beer, it is not to be sold any higher than one Pfennig per Mass.
“Furthermore, we wish to emphasize that in future in all cities, markets and in the country, the only ingredients used for the brewing of beer must be Barley, Hops and Water. Whosoever knowingly disregards or transgresses upon this ordinance, shall be punished by the Court authorities’ confiscating such barrels of beer, without fail.
“Should, however, an innkeeper in the country, city or markets buy two or three pails of beer (containing 60 Mass) and sell it again to the common peasantry, he alone shall be permitted to charge one Heller more for the Mass of the Kopf, than mentioned above. Furthermore, should there arise a scarcity and subsequent price increase of the barley (also considering that the times of harvest differ, due to location), WE, the Bavarian Duchy, shall have the right to order curtailments for the good of all concerned.”
I will forgive them their lack on knowledge as to the existence of yeast.
Nobody follows the Reinheitsgebot as a standard. The ECoJ even lifted it in 1988. It’s protectionist garbage.
Name one beer anywhere in production today that would meet this criteria. It doesn’t include yeast as an acceptable ingredient, and it is difficult to make any alcohol without it.
As I said, Rob S, I will forgive them their lack of knowledge as to the existence of yeast. I also enjoy several alcoholic beverages brewed with ale yeasts which do not conform to the Reinheitsgebot – I simply don’t mistake them for beer. Similarly when I take rabbit, pan fry in seasoned flour, then finish it up in the oven with a mushroom and sour cream sauce. It may look like pork chops, and even taste a good bit like pork chops, but its not pork chops. Like the malt beverages described above, both can be enjoyed on their own merits.
Whilst the rules don’t include yeast, the way beer was made back then with large open vats that allowed the natural yeasts floating around on the wind to fly in and colonise is still used by some(very few) Brewers today.