In a new quotation mark war, British "craft" brewers to take stab at "craft" definition.

The great questions of our age.

Is there free will?

Do supernatural beings exist?

What is meant by "craft"?

I still use the word if it suits me, primarily when it's easier to facilitate communication without delving into what might as well be theology.

However, at the current time it matters little to me. My basic tool for making determinations in "craft" as in other decisions about where my money goes remains this working definition of independent business, as offered by the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA):

• (I) Private, worker, community or cooperative ownership. 
• (II) At least 50% locally-owned. 
• (III) Decision-making authority is vested in the local owners and not subject to conditions dictated remotely. 
• (IV) The business has a limited number of outlets, which are limited to a 150 mile radius.

It isn't perfect, and at times I ignore it, because the point always has been shift. I try to patronize as few chains as possible, and while this isn't easy when it comes to buying groceries, it's not so hard to decide when looking for beer, and where to drink it.

Can craft beer really be defined? We're about to find out, by Tony Naylor (The Guardian)

Next month, possibly in a secret underground bunker, but more likely in a pub, the leading lights of new wave British brewing will meet to do something that, so far, beer geeks have found impossible. They will define what craft beer is in the UK.

This attempt by the new United Craft Brewers (UCB) to codify craft is essential in their mission to, “promote and protect the interests of British craft brewers, their beers and beer enthusiasts.” UCB has been established by the scene’s big guns – Brewdog, Beavertown, Magic Rock and Camden Town Brewery are among its founders ...

... Defining what is and isn’t craft beer is notoriously difficult. You cannot restrict it to a list of ingredients, like the historic German purity laws, because modern brewers want to use everything from coffee grounds to chillies in their beers. You cannot define craft beer in terms of how it is packaged, as Camra did with real ale, because it already comes in cask, keg, can, bottle and – who knows? – probably Tetrapak cartons and PET bottles soon, too. Nor is an ambitious company such as Brewdog (it is poised to hugely increase its brewing capacity and already owns 35 bars) likely to signup to something that restricts craft breweries to a certain size, be that in terms of volume production – as craft breweries are primarily regulated in the US – financial turnover or diversification of the company’s interests.

"Local is an experience as much as it is a sourcing."

This is an excellent column on the nuances of localism, as written by a beer-loving observer in Lexington, Kentucky: On Being Local, at Make Mine Potato.

Indiana wine at Bank Street Brewhouse: Let's try it again, from the top.

There are times in every person’s life when he or she has an excellent idea and the opportunity to test it out, and yet for whatever reason, the dots just won’t connect. When this happens, it doesn’t necessarily imply that the idea has been discredited, but perhaps only that it has yet to be properly implemented.

I published the following here at Potable Curmudgeon in September, 2009. Obviously, Josh Lehman has now moved on, but beyond inserting Matt Weirich’s name, and noting an ever higher level of acceptance for BSB’s food during the past six or so months, I stick by everything I wrote two years ago as it pertains to wine at Bank Street Brewhouse.

A renewed commitment to Southern Indiana wineries promised at the Bank Street Brewhouse (Sept, 2009)

I expend very little energy thinking about wine. This isn’t because I don’t like wine. It’s because I prefer beer, and having become renowned for preferring beer – in essence, being paid to drink beer – it’s what I drink and think most of the time.

Not all of the time, though, and drinking wine is an enjoyable busman’s holiday for me. Much of the reason why wine is enjoyable for me in limited doses is because I know comparatively little about it. It may be true that I know a bit more than I let on, and yet, overall, my knowledge base is rudimentary. I aim to keep it that way, not out of malice, but rather out of triage. I’ve neither the time nor the liver to become “expert” at a second drinking discipline.

These considerations matter because of a decision we made about the newest of our two businesses, Bank Street Brewhouse. Our goal with Bank Street Brewhouse is to accompany Chef Josh Lehman’s formidable cuisine with the beers we brew at BSB and the original brewhouse three miles away. It is a measure of how admirably Josh has succeeded in the kitchen that customers ask for a wine list, presumably having been trained to think that such high quality of food could not possibly be consumed without wine, as opposed to beer.

This is an errant assumption, and one that we’ll change with time. In the interim, we have not neglected the output of the vineyard. Rather, we have taken the position that if our locally produced beer stands the test of pairing with Josh’s culinary creations, so do local wines being handcrafted throughout Southern Indiana and wineries like Huber, Turtle Run, Thomas Family, Winzerwald, Butler, Best, Oliver and several others.

I can tally these wineries here without cribbing off the Internet, primarily because in the past year and a half, I’ve visited all of them save for Best and a couple others not listed here. At each there were greater and lesser wines, but the point is that at their best, these wineries make excellent products worthy of featuring as part of our effort to emphasize local beers and foodstuffs that come from small, independent or family-run operations.

We’re trying to stay consistent with these principles as it is possible to do so. Why should Southern Indiana wines be treated any differently? My own taste buds tell me that while there surely are classic wines from time-honored wine making areas of the world that are “better” than these, and I use that term rationally yet guardedly, locally made wines are good and getting better. They fit the bill of fare conceptually, and I believe some of them are better than just “good.”

Besides, a grape like Chambourcin is one grown right here. That’s local. That’s the point, isn’t it?

As with the tendency at one time for beer drinkers to prefer imports over American-made craft beers, I suspect there is an element of snobbery in this prejudice, which provides even more reason for me to reject the notion that for the BSB wine list to be suitable, there must be selections from somewhere else. This is bunk. I’m advising staff that we’re making a renewed effort to build a wine list that features Southern Indiana wines, and I believe we shall make it slightly larger than I first envisioned. Yes, BSB is all about NABC beer, but not to the exclusion of other local products worth enjoying and savoring. Come to think of it, shifting this knowledge back to the original location is a very good idea, too.

If I have to visit these Southern Indiana wineries again, and go through all those samplings a second time, I’m willing to make the sacrifice in the name of science, and local commerce. It's exhausting. Someone must do it.

My notion of constructing a wine program exclusively from Indiana wineries has not faltered because of any notable demerits in the concept. Rather, it never has been implemented properly, embraced by our staff, and sold to John Q. Public with the same passion we sell our beers.

Honestly, both our Indiana-only winery program and the accompanying distinctive spirits program have suffered because we haven’t invested enough money and marketing time in them. I take responsibility for this; so many other things kept popping up that required immediate attention that I’ve tended to neglect what always was viewed as a secondary mission. The wines and spirits have been orphaned, so to speak.

I am confident we can set this right. If we are to sell this idea, there must be something to sell (inventory) and a better way of educating about it. There are resources in Indiana winemaking that can help us make good choices. I’m willing to arrange trips to places like Madison to source wine from people like Steve Thomas. We can cross-market with these wineries, and perhaps re-examine the idea of joining the Upland Wine Trail as an associate member. We already have a prime cross-marketing opportunity with River City Winery – we’re a block apart, and we’re the only places nearby where both wine (from them) and beer (from us) can be purchased to go on Sunday.

Wednesday Weekly: Locavore in a Kentuckiana glass.

Two weeks ago, I began musing in the general direction of locally-based marketing action by metropolitan Louisville area breweries.

It is an understatement to note that my thoughts have engendered controversy, and seeing as generating discussion always is my intention, I cannot deny a measure of contentment with this reaction. Unfortunately, a slew of misconceptions have accompanied the ensuing chat.

One is that my interest in positive reinforcement for local brewing constitutes a reaction “against” recent developments. But this is mistaken, and paranoia is not an argument. These thoughts of mine did not spring forth overnight. They have been gestating for a very long time, ever since two developments combined in a dialectical fashion to give me pause.

One of these is my ongoing, personal involvement with downtown New Albany revitalization efforts, during the course of which I have found myself exposed to a world of ideas loosely configured as New Urbanism. Running parallel to such tenets is the “buy local” movement, which as a small businessman strikes me as the perfect antidote to the high cost of low price (Wal-Mart) and the subsequent outsourcing of America. Craft brewers have been saying this for many years: Think globally, drink locally.

The second is NABC’s brewery expansion project, primarily as viewed from the context of craft beer’s national explosion. We have invested heavily in the production side of craft beer. At the same time, in spite of this being the “golden age” of craft beer, its percentage of market penetration remains very small, albeit it healthily growing. How do we make the pie appreciably bigger, grow faster, and reach those who haven’t yet experienced craft beer?

The answer for me as a brewery owner in metropolitan Louisville is to apply “locavore” tenets to craft beer and craft brewing, widen efforts to cultivate the grassroots where we all live and work, examine the added value of local craft brewing, and create an appellation of origin that summarizes this value, combining these ideas and ideals into an actionable program for telling our story to people who may not have heard it, while reaffirming what makes us special for those who have.

Contrary to rumor, I have no interest in protectionism or negative campaigning. My aim is to inventory Louisville area craft brewing and cull from it a positive explanation of value.

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An objection I’ve heard repeated more than once is that because we do not grow cereal grains and hops in metropolitan Louisville area, “locavore” principles cannot possibly apply to craft brewing here. I used to feel the same way, but the fact of the matter is that brewing and agriculture are very different practices.

Agriculture systematizes the growth of foodstuffs, from which value is created. To brew is to add further value to them by fermenting them. Fermentation is a natural process, but significantly, beer does not brew itself. Without man's active intervention to plan and guide the activity, there would not be beer as we know it today.

Nature’s raw materials must be assembled, modified and finished according to the mind, and the hand, of man. As such, the process of brewing adds value to natural ingredients by transforming them into a finished product.

This added value can be measured tangibly, albeit simplistically, in a somewhat open market economy. Simply stated, the finished product sells for a price higher than the combined cost of natural materials and affiliated production costs – utilities, labor and the like.

However, the calculation of this added value also embraces a wide range of intangibles. These intangible values are harder to measure, but unlike purely objective technical standards of quality, they can be altered and enhanced in the mind of the consumer through instruction.

Or, as a consultant might ask: “Given a set of tangible product features, what is the price premium a consumer is willing to pay for my brand compared to a competitor's brand or an unbranded product?”

As an answer: Because the product is brewed in Kentuckiana.

Intangibles are consumer perceptions attached both to individual brands and entire classes of product. Consumers perceive value in craft beer as a whole; in craft beers brewed in Michigan; in craft beers brewed by Founders of Grand Rapids (to name just one); in favored craft beer styles (say, IPA); and in specifically favored craft beers, perhaps Founders Centennial.

Defining the way these circles intersect, and placing emphasis on certain of the intangibles, are two ways of illustrating added value. All of it belongs to the realm of consumer information, telling the story of beer and brewing. Ideally, at an individual brewery, telling this story is the job of sales and marketing, working alongside the brewery team.

Groupings of businesses can achieve an economy of marketing scale, enhance intangibles and add value by telling this story in a collective way, according to pre-determined criteria of membership.

The Brewers Association does it for American craft breweries – not craft breweries in Canada, and only for those that qualify for inclusion by standards of ownership and production.

The Brewers of Indiana Guild does it for those located in the state of Indiana, not Wyoming or Singapore.

In Germany, only those breweries in and around Cologne can sell ale called Kolsch, and one elsewhere, one looks for the Trappist symbol on the label to ensure that the beer is certified as authentic. A monastery can achieve certification, but only by compliance with the rules of the game.

Historically, appellations of origin always have mattered in positive terms of local ownership and local marketing, even if admittedly they’re occasionally misused by protectionists. If the city of Plzen had it to do over, Pilsner would be a term exclusive to the area, and never would have been permitted to describe watery imitators brewed in St. Louis or Nairobi.

If one truly believes that one's locale is special, then obviously "special" can be defined and delineated. These definitions and delineations reflect principles that add further tiers of value to locally brewed craft beer.

Membership is free to those who meet the criteria, which must be sufficiently sensible in terms of eligibility to make the exercise worth pursuing. It does not upset me that NABC cannot belong to the Michigan Brewers Guild, because we cannot meet the criteria for membership (brewing in Michigan), but you can bet that belonging to the guild has benefits for Michigan craft brewers, and we in Kentuckiana are free to emulate the MBG on our own terms … or, naturally, not at all.

I believe it would be a mistake not to explore the advantages of such a grouping and such a common marketing exercise.

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Yes, it is possible to pick a thousand nits, and as noted, my overall purpose is to incite thought. In the end, I believe it is perfectly acceptable, and in the economic climate highly advisable, for Kentuckiana breweries to be unified, to define the facets that make them special, and to positively brand and market themselves accordingly. We creatively produce the freshest local craft beer, period, because we brew our beer right here.

Period.

Nothing in any of this, anywhere in this, suggests excluding beers from elsewhere. This is not either-or. It is an argument in favor of one grouping, existing alongside other arguments for other groupings. Most, even all, might be valid simultaneously. A Kolsch brewed in Cologne, an ale brewed by Trappists, and Genuine Kentuckiana; choose the one that fits your needs.

The NABC Pizzeria & Public House will continue to sell wonderful beers from America and the world, with draft taps designated as Michigan Brewers Guild, and Brewers of Indiana Guild, and Monsters of Craft. All these beers exist for a certain time and place, as do beers brewed locally, right here in metropolitan Louisville. All fit the good beer mosaic, and I merely suggest that we, ourselves, be pro-active about dictating the terms of the exact fit.

Nothing here refers to individual personalities, or to attacks on them, or to anything at all beyond a rational consideration of options that pertain to the craft brewing business and the art of craft brewing, both in localized contexts.

It is principle, not personality.

It is the primacy of ideas and ideals as the perhaps the finest marketing strategy yet devised.

That's all it is, and that's enough for me.