I was nearing the end of a long, snowy drive home from Kansas City the other day. I hit a spot where I couldn’t pick up NPR and clearly needed something to occupy my brain. I passed a billboard advertising a liquor store somewhere in southern Minnesota. The sign bore the proud declaration “Specialty Beer.” At that moment this sight filled me with mixed emotions. On the one hand I was happy to see a small town store advertising and selling better beer, although I have no idea what kind of selection they might actually have. On the other hand I found myself wondering how long the craft beer industry will be saddled with labels like “specialty” and “craft.”
Think about it. When you go into a liquor store they don’t have a separate section for wines that don’t come in a box. They don’t put a special label on the single malt scotch to suggest that it is anything other than scotch. I don’t believe I have ever seen a store, even those selling small artisanal labels, advertise “specialty vodka.” Wines and spirits may be organized by type, region, or even price, but seldom is the better stuff called “special.” Contrast this with beer where it is not uncommon to see the “beer” section brimming with twelve-packs of pale lagers and a physically separate “specialty beer” section with its rows of 22 oz and 750 ml bottles. I found myself wondering if this segregation was a good thing or a bad thing for the industry.
In the short term labels like “craft” or “specialty” draw attention to better beer and let consumers know that it isn’t the same old pale, tasteless brew that they may think of as beer. In the long term, however, I think it may serve to scare people off. Segregating craft beer from the rest of the beer universe makes it easier for those who haven’t yet stepped up to say, “Oh, that’s too dark for me” or “I don’t like that strong stuff.” It serves to alienate potential craft beer drinkers from a product that they may very well like. Or it might lead some to see it as something to be consumed only on special occasions. Separating it physically in the store from other beers certainly makes it easier for the casual beer drinker to overlook. I would bet that there is a whole set of beer customers at a store like Surdyk’s or Zipp’s in Minneapolis who are totally unaware that there is a special aisle for specialty beers.
If you think about it, the majority of craft beers available today are simply beer as it was up until about World War II when resource rationing and changing palates began the slide to the corn and rice lagers of today. In other words, it’s just beer. A pilsner or Munich dunkel in Germany is just beer. A bitter in England is just beer. Bottled versions of each would sit on store shelves alongside other beers without need of special categorization. I wonder how long it will take for Americans to see domestic craft beer and better imported beer as just “beer.” How long will it take for Lagunitas Pils to take its rightful place in the cooler somewhere in the vicinity of the other light-colored lagers instead of being relegated to the short-bus ghetto of the specialty aisle? When will we normalize the consumption of quality beer in the same way that we have normalized the consumption of fine wine and spirits?
It helps the industry. Were it consistently labelled as “just beer”, I fear many consumers would be dissuaded by the price difference between craft beer and mass-produced swill. Differentiating beer made with exacting standards as to ingredients and quality control highlights these special characteristics to consumers who might otherwise be unaware of them.
Again, I agree with that in the short-term. However, in the wine and spirit markets there is a wide range of prices from a few dollars per bottle all the way up to hundreds of dollars per bottle. People seem to accept that just fine. It’s just part of the wide variety of “Wine” that’s out there. People can buy what they want, but one isn’t segregated off as if it were some other kind of thing.
Also, not to sound like an apologist for the macrobrews, I think it is false to say that those beers are not brewed to “exacting standards as to ingredients and quality control.” Anheuser Busch has excruciatingly small tolerances for deviation in color, aroma, flavor, and all the other things that make up the beer experience. Their standards are much stricter than any craft brewer, in part because they can be. As for ingredients, they set the standard for most of the market. American malts are by and large made to the specifications of the big brewers. And again, they are very exacting specifications.
But if said specifications result in an inferior product, is it correct to call them “exacting”? I don’t argue that they are “exact” but that is a very different thing than “exacting” or “discerning”.
I question that the product is “inferior”. It may not be a style that you like, but does that necessarily mean it’s bad? American or international style lager is the most consumed beer style in the entire world. It is what it is, but I can’t say it’s bad. I may not drink it often, but it goes down good on occasion.
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When an unsuspecting customer walked into the beer store I used to work for and glanced at the cooler, they would often get a puzzled look and ask “Where is your regular beer?”
Regular is pale lager, the usual suspects. Craft beer, in the minds of the average macro drinker, is irregular, or at least a departure from the norm. It’s the stuff that’s heavy, dark, bitter, and with aftertaste. Flavor is the general term.
My response to those customers I mentioned above was always “It’s all regular beer”. Changing the way they see beer is the first step I think.
Sean, My point exactly.
Very interesting post Michael. It raises some very interesting points and potential socioeconomic dilemmas. As Sean hints at I think education will be the tipping point for this conundrum as the “craft” beer movement has become young once again. I’m sure (hope) overtime with further education of the public these “difference” will become less relevant. To some extent I appreciate the fact that beers I tend not to purchase often happen to be somewhat segregated from those I more often purchase in a simply logistic sense, but then perhaps all liquor stores should simply cater to me 😉
“How long will it take for Lagunitas Pils to take its rightful place in the cooler somewhere in the vicinity of the other light-colored lagers instead of being relegated to the short-bus ghetto of the specialty aisle?”
As soon as the federal government considers Miller/Coor’s and InBev’s death grip on grocery store beer aisle real estate as a monopoly.
I get that in the grocery store, but what about liquor stores that could put beer all in one place but choose to segregate craft beer out. It’s really just about normalizing this stuff so that people see it as just another piece of the beer continuum instead of “special.”
Very nice articles. From Goolge