A couple of years ago, in addition to the standard lager and stout, in pubs you could try a maximum of cherry varieties. On this range of “originals” was exhausted. What is happening today is what American and European brewers loudly call a renaissance, there is no exaggeration in their words. The situation in the beer market can be compared to the industrial revolution. But in order to speak more specifically about the subject, it is necessary to define the term.
Craft beer – this is any beer brewed not on an industrial scale, but at a small beer production, often according to their own recipes for personal use and creative self-realization. Many of today’s famous craft brewers started out with their own kitchens or barns with equipment installed there. Often people do not even open private breweries, but rent ready-made workshops, where they brew beer according to original recipes and traditional technologies.
There is no official translation into Russian of this phenomenon yet. In different sources, you can find both direct transliteration (“craft” beer) and various correspondences (starting from “craft” and ending with “homemade”). In America, there are clear signs of craft production, introduced by the American Brewers Association:
1. A small brewery producing no more than 6 million barrels (703 million liters) of beer per year. Obviously, the larger the production, the higher the risks of experiments – if the new variety is not to the taste of the consumer, the losses will be very large during mass production. One of the basic principles of crafting is the introduction of new recipes and original tastes, so this requirement is dictated by pure logic and common sense.
2. Independence from external investors and (or) shareholders. At least 75% of the brewery’s capital must be at its unconditional disposal, if outside influences exceed 25%, the company’s management can no longer approach the beer brewing process creatively, because it is forced to focus on financial criteria. For craft production, this is unacceptable.
3. Following the traditions of brewing. The base of author’s beer should be malt, in addition, brewers are obliged to work on complicating the taste, and not reducing the cost and cost of the drink.
The history of craft beer
To understand where the “legs” of the phenomenon itself “grow from,” you need to go back to the distant past. The first mention of beer is found in written sources dating back to the XNUMXth century BC, and no one knows how many centuries it was brewed before that. It is clear that over the past millennia, humanity has reached unprecedented heights in the art of brewing, and would like to enjoy the fruits of the labors of their ancestors.
However, the economic crisis at the beginning of the XNUMXth century (the “Great Depression”) forced us to reconsider our approach to consumer culture. Mass production has become more profitable for the state. With the help of advertising and other means of persuasion, public taste was brought to some average value, small breweries closed, and large ones began to produce some kind of abstract lager, without features and specifications. You could come to a bar, just ask for “beer” and get something plus or minus what you expected in terms of color, taste and texture, there was no variety on the market.
The first moves to change the situation began to take place in the 1960s. It was then that Fritz Maytag opened a small brewery, Anchor Brewing, where he began to produce beer according to old recipes that were in use even before the introduction of Prohibition in the United States. In 1976, the New Albion Brewery, owned by Jack McAuliffe, entered the market. This tiny “garage” production produced both classic European beers and original drinks according to the author’s recipe.
In 1978, homebrewing was legalized in some US states (this process was finally completed only in 2013), and microbreweries began to grow by leaps and bounds.
In 1980, there were only 8 private breweries in America, after 14 years there were already 537, by 2010 there were about 1600, and now the total number has exceeded 2000, and it is even believed that any American can find a “home” beer production no further than 10 miles from your home.
Features of craft brewing
As already mentioned, the main idea of ”craft beer” is creative self-realization, and not commercial gain. In Europe and Russia, in fact, this is the only condition for beer to be included in the craft category, therefore, unlike America with its strict definition, here the boundaries between exclusive and consumer goods are rather blurred.
Despite the absence of regulations, European craft brewers try to follow several fundamental principles of work:
1. Creativity and innovation. It is very important to always look for new flavors and experiment with bases and additives. There are known cases of watermelon beer, a drink on birch buds, varieties using various herbs and other most incredible combinations. As soon as the brewer stabilizes and starts working in one segment, he moves into the category of mass consumption, which contradicts the craft principle.
2. Building a community. Microbreweries, like movie stars, are very dependent on their fans. In the face of fierce competition, the winner is the one who has the best word of mouth. Of course, craft brewers are not looking for enrichment, but they like to produce a delicious product for connoisseurs and earn money from it – at least to improve equipment and develop new varieties.
3. Bright personality. The era of impersonal light beer is slowly fading away, now people want rich flavors and unusual recipes. Craft brewing is about creative self-expression, no worse than painting or poetry.
Problems and pitfalls
Due to the vagueness of the definition of craft beer, it is tempting to include anything outside the standard set (lager and stout) in this category. Many producers, catching market trends and sensing the opportunity to earn money, began to produce original varieties on an industrial scale. There is also a large proportion of “live” varieties and other varieties, which in the English-speaking environment are called “crafty” – “crafty”, that is, having external signs of author’s beer, but not suitable either for the ideology or for the more fundamental requirements of the genre.
There is also such a phenomenon as Trappist beer – it is produced in small European breweries located in monasteries. Some theorists include Trappists as a craft, others do not. In any case, this beer often has an excellent taste and original recipe, and certainly does not dishonor the name of the manufacturer.
Due to the craze for this simple, tasty and healthy hobby, many varieties appear on the market that are significantly inferior to the good old Budweiser or other “store” drinks, so the term “craft” is somewhat discredited. Beer sommeliers believe that there is nothing terrible here – in a few years the excitement will subside, amateurs and outright scammers will leave the market, after which everything will fall into place.
There are a lot of craft breweries, in fact, each one is unique and good in some way. Among the recognized world stars are Sam Calagione (Dogfish Head Brewery), Mikkel Bjorg Byonso (Mikkeller), James Watt and Martin Dickey (Brew Dog).
Craft beer in Russia
Craft beer came to us quite recently – literally in 2012, so at the state level they have not yet figured out what to do with this phenomenon. As a result, brewers have to contend with a host of rules and regulations. For example, if even the slightest change is made to the basic recipe – say, a spoonful of honey is added – by law it is already necessary to register a new variety, and this is associated not only with paperwork, but also with certain costs. Under such conditions, craft brewers are forced to either work partly illegally, or give up experiments, which completely kills the whole idea of beer creativity.
Another problem is that the law does not distinguish between a large brewery and a microbrewery, and non-commercial craft “for the soul” cannot physically meet the requirements. Also here we can mention the bureaucracy of the system. But, despite all the difficulties, the process is going on: craft beer festivals are being organized, brewers are uniting in associations and lobbies, craft pubs are opening.
In Russia, St. Petersburg is considered the capital of author’s brewing. More than 60 private breweries are located here. AF Brew is widely known in narrow circles, Bakunin, Brickstone, Drakkar, Jaws, La Beerint, Victory Art Brew and others have many fans. Many of them have IPA (Indian Pale Ale) and APA (American Pale Ale) in their assortment, but they definitely enrich the drink with their own developments and ingredients.