Thoughts about Craft Beer

Lately, I been thinking about what exactly craft beer is. When I look back at the headlines of this blog, I can tell what I think craft beer is. And I'll confess that sometimes when I write these posts, I sometimes do minimal rewriting, so I can guess what the original writers meant by "craft beer." They mean a small brewery or brewpub, or, essentially, anyone but Bud, Miller and Coors.

According to the Wikipedia entry on craft beers, I'm not alone. Some craft beers can be made by a big brewery in England or Germany--as long as it isn't made in America.

Whenever I think about the term craft brewer, I try to equate it with an artisanal baker, or cheese maker. The problem with that correlation is that the brewer generally does not grow the grain or hops he uses, unlike a cheese maker raises and milks his own cows. And part of me thinks that's what a craft brewer should do. Another part of me thinks a craft brewer should use local ingredients. For example, if I open a brewery and I buy my grain from a local farmer and malt it myself, and I have a hop garden and draw water from my well, I could legitimately be called a craft brewer. But who wants to, or more importantly can afford to, go to that much effort?

The Brewers Association, which represents American craft brewers, defines craft brewers as being small (less than 2 million barrels per year), independent, and "has at least 50% of its volume in either all malt beers or in beers which use adjuncts to enhance rather than lighten flavor." A craft beer is defined as "produced with 100% barley or wheat malt or use other fermentable ingredients that enhance (rather than lighten) flavor."

So the question becomes, can a non-craft brewer make craft beer? In other words, is Blue Moon a craft beer?