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Jester King’s
Jeffrey Stuffings posted an interesting piece on the Texas-based brewery’s site last week, which was as incisive as it was beautifully written.
And in it he addressed some troubling issues about what a true independent craft brewer actually is in this era of Big Beer consolidation.
In Jester King to Brewers Association Independent Craft Brewer Seal, Stuffings announced that the brewery would be adopting the BA’s official seal of independence and incorporating it into their packaging going forward.
Does he really think this initiative is going to be impactful?
Like many of us, he honestly has no idea…
But his announcement did further his views on what might make for a more acurate definition of an ‘independent craft brewer.’
And his thoughts on this matter were as timely as they were on target.
Stuffings departs from the Brewer’s Association’s position of what defines a craft brewer in a number of well-reasoned ways….so thoughtful, in fact, that BA’s has got to be reeling.
On craft beer independence, Stuffings takes issue with the BA’s current stance and with craft breweries that are partially held by another larger alcohol company…
“If we were setting the criteria to use the seal, we’d make 100% independence a requirement. As it stands, a brewery only needs to be over 75% independent to qualify. We personally find it odd that a brewery could be just under a quarter owned by a multi-national conglomerate and still be considered “independent”. We think the Texas Craft Brewers Guild gets it right by requiring a Texas brewery to be 100% independently owned in order to be a voting member in the guild.”
He also takes direct aim at venture capital’s role in obscuring what makes for true craft beer independence…
“We’d count majority ownership by private equity firms as disqualifying. We have no insider knowledge, and are far from well-versed in the field of venture capital, but it’s our understanding that it’s only a matter of time until VC firms flip their brewery holdings for a profit. What bothers us is a VC firm using independent cred to build up value in a brewery before selling it to a multinational.”
And he wasn’t done. Stuffings calls out Texas distributors… and his observations struck as borderline universal…
“Independence is great, but how helpful is it in states like Texas where independent breweries ally themselves with distributors who actively oppose their interests? This has been a recurring refrain from us throughout the years. Our greatest political opponent in Texas are the big distributors.
There’s a reason why you can buy wine to go from a winery and spirits to go from a distillery in Texas, but not beer to go from a production brewery.
It’s because the distributors say “no”. All the independence in the world isn’t going to change that, so long as the distributors hold all the cards, and we as craft brewers continue to give them our business without banding together to demand change.”
We appreciate Michael Stuffings clarity of thinking when it comes to these issues…We also appreciate his talents as a writer…He’s a natural.
Dude’s a renaissance man, that’s for sure.
All image credits; Jester King
