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| Adnams aren't hiding anything with their sub-brand |
"I use "pseudo-craft" for any traditional cask brewer that uses radically different branding for its hoppy stuff."I do like to see such clearly defined positions, it makes life so much easier. But sadly it's not a position I can adopt myself. I've heard myself how a seven year old brewery had to launch a sub-brand if it wanted to get into the craft market as they were too well known as a cask ale brewery. And it seems they're not the only one.
In times of increasing competition it's easy to see why breweries are looking for new avenues to get their beer to market. And lets not forget the craft premium where a smaller container size can be used to increase the value of your beer by 50%. There appears to be a similar thing going on with craft keg vs. cask beer pricing too.
Irritating though it is I can even see why some breweries take the step of hiding who they are when they launch a sub-brand. Craft beer geeks seem to have a lot more contempt for mainstream cask ales than they do mainstream lagers. Drinking Bud, or now Bud Light, seems to be something to proudly tweet about, but Greene King IPA only ever gets derided.
So established ale breweries are in a bit of a no-win situation. If they don't innovate they're doomed to decline, and if they do they're denounced. Is it any wonder that for new brands, aimed at new markets, they adopt new branding?
It's all nonsense anyway. There are two types of beer: the beer I like and the beer I don't. I generally don't like craft beer, especially at its normally inflated prices, because it all tastes the same. But many others do like it and it makes up a significant portion of the beer market so, obviously many "traditional" brewers are going to target it. They, just like "craft" brewers, want to make more profit by selling more of their beer and they will have noticed that the "craft mark-up" is larger than for cask or keg "traditional" beer mark-up.
ReplyDeleteWhen old established family brewers and supermarkets are selling craft beer it is on the slippery slope to becoming mainstream and the price premium will slowly erode. After all it is only beer in the end. I wonder where craft brewers go then?
Fair points, but I can't agree. The customer is happy to pay more because SOME of the craft beer they drink is incredibly delicious and they're always chasing that moment.
DeleteMass produced wine hasn't done anything to slow the growth of top end vineyards and I can't see that poorly made IPA's by huge brew co's will ever compete with, say, cloudwater IPA's on song. Oh and they definitely don't all taste the same.
Hmmm...some of the breweries now owned by multi-nationals still do decent stuff if you ask me.
DeleteEase Up IPA is sold in a 500 ml bottle so is obviously not proper craft.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's on the wrong side of the aisle in Booths.
Deletethe thing is, mainstream lager is lush & only 50p a can. you'd be a mug to neck owt else.
ReplyDeleteI see plenty of craft beer geeks broadcasting their love of "mainstream" cask, but meh, whatever. I don't think this has much to do with geeks anyway - they generally know their sub-brands well enough not to get fooled, and are a small market-segment anyway. The incognito-craft-brand routine seems to have a lot more to do with "casual" drinkers who don't know that much about craft beer but do know that it's apparently something that we're all supposed to like nowadays, and that what ever it is, Thwaites aren't it.
ReplyDeleteI can't recall seeing anyone have a good word for Doom Bar or GK IPA but I could have just missed it. I see your point about incognito-craft being aimed at more casual drinkers. I wonder what the sales figures are like? Given their proliferation probably good.
DeleteBeer geeks with a good word for Doom Bar are pretty thin on the ground on either side of the craft / trad fence. You can't heave a half brick on Twitter without hitting some fresh faced young blogger in the middle of a paean to Harveys Sussex Best or Fullers ESB, though.
DeleteHarvey's Best and Fuller's ESB aren't really the equivalent of Bud and Bud light though. There's definitely something going on with being proud of drinking the latter two.
DeleteNot sure you'd find many beer geeks waxing lyrical about Robinson's Unicorn or Brain's SA, though. The number of trad beers they will enthuse about is pretty limited.
DeleteThis is why the 'craft beer' label needs to be undertaken by pubs and bars with caution in this day and age. Stocking a variety of different productions and tastes will serve every craft beer vendor well - celebrate the diversity of craft beers rather than using it as a label to push more bottles!
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