I recently stated on Twitter that I thought Granville Island Brewery was becoming less craft friendly and that it was good to see them sponsoring CAMRA Vancouver. Some people came to their defense, including their own twitter account. Due to their willingness to interact with their community, and critics, I decided I should further research my opinion and see if it was valid. What I found was encouraging. It turns out they are members of the BC Craft Brewers Association, continue to produce limited release brews, and were the first micro brewery in Canada. Although I was aware of some of these facts I feel my opinion had become skewed due to what I believe is an uninspired catalog of everyday beers. Why I bring this up is because it posed an interesting question. When is a brewery no longer craft?
Sleeman Breweries is a good example of a brewery that may have tumbled down this slippery slope. The original Sleeman Breweries ceased operations in the 1930’s but was resurrected by the great grandson of John H. Sleeman in the late 1980’s. By most accounts it was a quality microbrewery up until 1996 when they merged with Okanagan Springs Brewery and went public. At this point things started to change. In my opinion this public offering resulted in them caring more about shareholder value than the quality of their beer. In time they became more and more macro to the point that they were purchased by Sapporo Breweries in 2006. Today Sleeman Breweries is one of the largest ‘Canadian’ breweries and anything micro about them is a distant memory; in fact, they are so macro that they even brew Pabst Blue Ribbon for the Canadian market.
In the end I suppose the answer to the question is this: when a brewery starts caring more about their accounting ledger than they do about quality, then they are no longer craft. I imagine its hard to maintain high levels of volume and quality at the same time. Trying to do so would greatly eat into a breweries profits, and when you’re a public company, that is unacceptable. Finding a balance may be the only way for a brewery to grow, make profits, and still maintain their craft roots. For example, although I feel the everyday beers from Granville Island Breweries are uninspired, I do believe the combination of their seasonal and limited release beers do enough to recover their image. I absolutely love the Lions Winter Ale and recently enjoyed the Raspberry Wheat Ale limited release. Maybe the key is to produce large volume beers that perform for the ledger, while keeping limited release craft offerings out there for hard core hop heads to enjoy.
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Agree with your thoughts of GIB. Limited Release brews are up there. Even with Sleeman, I quite like their Porter as a session beer, when it’s cold!
Posted by ilikemybeers on August 19th, 2009.
I love the Granville island brews. Go for a tasting at the roundhouse each time in Vancity. I have not had a Sleeman in years. Sleeman is so big, they even distribute Tecate in Canada.
Tahat is why Ilike a beer like Steamwhistle. They are building a great brewery by building loyalty for one beer.
Posted by Phil on August 25th, 2009.
I know the Brewers Association in the US has very clear guidelines for what is Craft, Micro, etc. I don’t know if Canada has any of the same designations.
I will admit it can be tricky for a brewery as it grows to maintain the same craft ‘feel’. Stone Brewing has done a very good job of walking that fence down in my old neighbourhood. It’s a difficult task. Is Sierra Nevada still a craft beer? They have massive national and international distribution, as does Stone, Rogue, Pyramid, Dogfish Head and countless others.
I guess the real issue is whether the quality of the beer is still where it should be. GIB may produce pedestrian brews (IMO), but has the quality of those beers changed with their growth? Are they still dedicated to brewing the best beer they can? As long as they aren’t cutting corners and using adjuncts to increase profit margin, I would say they are still craft.
Posted by Andy The Beerman on August 25th, 2009.
Sadly, I feel that this transaction will have a negative impact on craft beer choices here in the BC Interior. Still a long ways behind the coast, many small town and rural liquor stores and bars have a very limited craft beer offering. With Molson’s marketing money, these establishments can now be made to feel more complete by making their craft beer tap or their (limited) craft beer shelf in the cooler dedicated to GIB instead of the limited selections already offered. It’s already disheartening to go to places like Williams Lake or Quesnel and have to choose between Molson, Coors Light and three Rickard’s beers in every bar in town. I relate it to the opening of a Walmart in a small town. You ever see what happened to Maple Park Mall in Quesnel after Walmart opened?
AB is attempting this in the US too with their Shock Top, Bud Light Wheat etc. A friend recently returned from a trip to Wyoming and Utah and expressed the same concerns after his usual small town watering holes were now void of the very few craft offering and replaced with some funky, well marketed “craft beer” from Anheiser Busch.
That’s my opinion from the highways of the BC Interior. I hope I’m wrong, because my trips up north are depressing enough already.
Posted by Rob Trent on November 19th, 2009.