“Little Lies” – On Confusing The Craft Beer Consumer

 

Hey the beer business is business – and the goal is to be successful, brew something that people want and are willing to pay for. But it’s also become an increasingly competitive industry where “little lies” are sometimes told to help sell beer to less-informed consumers.

And here are some of those “little lies.”

Where’s That Beer From?

According to Yahoo Finance misleading terminology can be a problem and to illustrate their point, they cite a certain beer, referred to as  a “Vermont Farmhouse Ale,” that was actually brewed in Berkeley, California .

And while they might have more clearly called it a “Vermont-style Farmhouse Ale, when you see the Fieldwork Brewing’s pastoral label artwork (which ironically struck us as more like Nebraska than anywhere in Vermont) you gotta admit it doesn’t look like a beer brewed in the city of Berkeley.

So yes, some questionable imaging and wordplay…and maybe a little lie…that did reportedly piss off Hill Farmstead’s Shaun Hill, a true Vermont brewer if ever there was one.

Buy American!

On a much larger scale are the global Big Beer brands that harness Americanism in their advertising to obscure the reality that they are actually part of global entities.

Anheuser- Busch, now owned by Belgium-based AB InBev did generate some well-deserved backlash last summer when they substituted “America” for Budweiser on some of their cans.

And yes, Budweiser is brewed in the states, but it’s also brewed all around the world.

And no it’s not a craft beer company, but its craft beer holdings and how they market those companies as being truly independent is enormously deceptive and a HUGE lie on their part.

 

When That Craft Beer You’re Drinking Is Not Really “Craft”

The Brewer’s Association has a very specific definition of what a craft brewery is that has largely accepted (especially in the states) and roundly dismissed by Big Beer.

According to the BA a true craft brewer is must be small (producing 6 million barrels or less annually), independent (no large non-craft brewer can own no more than 25% of that company), and using traditional ingredients like malted barley.

But clearly Big Beer, whose craft acquisition strategy was designed to confuse the craft beer consumer and upend the craft beer industry’s seemly unstoppable momentum – and to a certain extent, that strategy is unfortunately already working.

 

And Is Your Imported Beer Really Imported?

Finally a “little lie” has been going on forever

Beer brands like Beck’s, Red Stripe and Fosters (which you can barely even find in Australia) are considered to be imports and many uninformed consumers willing to pay a premium price for them.

Add into the mix, imported craft beers owned by international multinationals, such as London-based Meantime Brewing which is now part of SAB Miller and recently made its’ debut in NYC – and things get especially confusing.

So now you’ve now got lies, upon lies, upon lies…

And in the beer biz even the “little lies” can have consequences.