Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Faux Craft Beer


L-R: Brewer, Director, HR

As the owner/brewer/delivery driver/sales rep and barman at Van Dieman Brewing, I can proudly say that Van Dieman Brewing is 100% independently family owned and operated.

Every beer we produce is made from 100% grain malt (85% from Tassie), 100% Tassie grown hops, 100% Tassie water and that we are proud of our rural roots in the Northern Midlands of Tasmania.

We do not try and hide who we are or what we do.

We make our beers how we want to, not how we’re told to by some suit on level 37.

If anything we are far too transparent with how we operate and how we craft our beers daily. I’d far prefer to let all our happy drinking friends know what we’re up to, how things are going, what we’ve got in the pipeline and where we’re heading.

As a small producer in the Australian Craft Beer industry, we live in a highly competitive market that is going through unprecedented growth nationally, but also a conflict of identity. 

Craft breweries, whilst technically all competitors in an open market, have an affinity with each other that make our industry without doubt one of the most enjoyable and amicable professions on the planet. Most operate on passion, hard work and producing amazing craft beer.

Its when faux “craft” breweries like Byron Bay Brewing Company and Steamrail Brewing Company pop their head up, the identity of Australian craft beer really gets confusing. If it’s hard for the industry to gets their head around, tough luck for Joe Average the consumer, standing in front of the fridge making the purchasing decision.

I wont repeat either article (please read them for yourself and make your own conclusions) but suffice to say they are eroding the all the hard work, passion and endeavor that small craft brewers like us toil away at day in, day out.

Its becoming clear that the “big boys” are muscling in on us smaller peeps. Bring it on I say, because there’s only so long you can hide behind misleading packaging, seriously weird marketing campaigns and so called “independent craft breweries”.

Eventually quality will rise to the top.

Next time your buying a Australian craft beer, make sure its not faux craft.

This is NOT craft beer