If a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, does beer once considered craft still get to call itself by that label if it's owned by a larger company? Not according to one Austin brewer, who posted a thread of rather pointed tweets about one of the beer sponsors for the 2018 Austin City Limits Music Festival.
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Karbach Brewing Co., based in Houston, is one of the festival's sponsors again this year. The ACL festival website also lists Karbach's beers on the lineup for the Barton Springs Beer Hall, where it says: "Don't miss out on the Barton Springs Beer Hall, where you can choose from different craft brews and catch the weekend's biggest NCAA and NFL games on the jumbo screen in between sets." Other brewers on the list include Austin Eastciders, Independence Brewing Company, Twisted X Brewing Company, Bell's Brewery, and Uncle Billy's Brewery.
ACL Music Festival
Michael Graham, the co-founder of local brewery Austin Beerworks, took exception to the label of craft beer for Karbach. He tweeted:
Hey, @ACLFestival. Having @karbachbrewing, who is owned by @abinbev, be your "Craft Beer Sponsor" intentionally misleads ticket buyers and you should feel bad about it.
— Austin Beerworks ? (@AustinBeerworks) May 6, 2018
So far, the tweet has been liked over 600 times and retweeted by over 200 people. The tweet kicked off a discussion over the definition of craft beer and what local really means. Karbach even contributed to the thread by replying to Austin Beerworks, saying:
Sorry you don?t like the sponsorship. Dig your beer and drink it often.
— Karbach Brewing (@karbachbrewing) May 7, 2018
Graham went on to clarify his position by noting that it wasn't Karbach's sponsorship of the festival that bothered him. He agreed that festivals need sponsors that can provide funding, and small brewers aren't generally able to provide that kind of financial support. The bone he wants to pick with the festival's organizers is the "craft beer" label.
We don?t have a problem with @karbachbrewing sponsoring @aclfestival. Big festivals require big sponsorship dollars and Karbach is one of the few breweries with the means to provide that. But they shouldn?t be called craft beer. That?s false advertising.
— Austin Beerworks ? (@AustinBeerworks) May 8, 2018
According to the Brewers Association, an industry organization that supports small and independent craft brewers, a craft brewery is defined as one that produces six million barrels of beer or less (around three percent of annual sales of the total United States market), brews using fermentation of traditional or innovative brewing ingredients (in other words, not flavored malted beverages), and is less than 25 percent owned or controlled by a non-craft brewer.
It's a label that has caused a great deal of discussion as more small breweries are acquired by large companies like Anheuser-Busch (AB InBev). And there's no doubt that some companies will misuse the craft beer label, like Walmart did with their beer labeled and sold as exclusive craft beer but made by a large company that produces beverages for retailers.
makes good beer; there?s a reason they were acquired. This isn?t about quality - it?s about transparency. There is a continuing effort to hide their 100% ownership by @abinbev . Many people care about who makes their beer and it is wrong to mislead them.
— Austin Beerworks ? (@AustinBeerworks) May 8, 2018
In 2016, Karbach was aqcuired by The High End, which is a business unit of Anheuser-Busch that works with U.S. craft breweries, including other well known beer makers like Goose Island and Devils Backbone.
Having @abinbev as a parent company comes with many benefits - access to the world?s best distribution network, raw ingredients, and brewing knowledge. But you don?t get to pretend that you?re still a craft brewer.
— Austin Beerworks ? (@AustinBeerworks) May 8, 2018
Many of these breweries keep their local control — it's the same employees brewing the same beer in the same location. The benefits for the small brewer is wider distribution and easier access to better ingredients and equipment. However, according to the Brewers Association, those brewers are no longer considered "craft" because they are mostly owned by a non-craft beer company.
The sun does not rise in the west, a frozen drink made with Everclear is not a margarita, and a company 100% owned by @abinbev is not Craft.
— Austin Beerworks ? (@AustinBeerworks) May 8, 2018
The team at Karbach sees it a bit differently. "To answer your question about how we define craft beer, to us it's about what's in the glass — quality, style of beer, innovation, passion, and ingredients. We started as a craft brewery years ago and I'll always define myself as a craft brewer," Eric Warner, Karbach's brewmaster, said in a statement to Austin station KVUE. "I'm extremely proud of the incredibly hard work of our brewing team and the craft beers we're making on Karbach Street every day where it all began."
While the Brewers Association is clear on their definition, as a trade organization they only have so much power over who calls themselves a craft brewer. It's not a legal or government-regulated definition, so it's up to small brewers to protect the definition and beer drinkers to educate themselves. So far, while there are strong feelings on both sides of the fight, some beer drinkers just want to drink what's good, regardless of where the money is coming from.
Graham is holding firm on his position, saying that he wants the festival to be transparent. He told KVUE that he's happy Karbach is a festival sponsor, he just wants them to be honest about who they are.
"It frustrated me because there's a clear definition of what craft beer is, and Karbach was pretty recently acquired by AB Inbev, Anheuser Busch, the largest brewing company in the world, and that's kind of the opposite of what craft beer is," said Graham in an interview with the station.
Go to @aclfestival, enjoy the great music and drink whatever you want. But you deserve to know what you?re paying for. (/THREAD)
— Austin Beerworks ? (@AustinBeerworks) May 8, 2018
ACL is in October, so it's possible (but unlikely) the festival changes their terminology before then.
Austin Beerworks is located in Austin, Texas. Their local brews include Pearl Snap, a German-style Pils, Bloodwork Orange, a seasonal Blood Orange IPA, Flavor Country, a hoppy pale ale, Heisenberg, which is a kristallweizen, and a Double IPA they list in their Heavy Machinery category of beers.
