Californian sues MillerCoors over Blue Moon advertising

[GA Russell]

Is it impossible by definition for a megabrewer to make a craft beer? Maybe under California law.

http://consumerist.com/2015/05/01/millercoors-sued-for-selling-blue-moon-as-a-craft-beer/

[BeBop]

Under the term "microbrew" this same thing was rampant back during the first micro- craft- fad in the 1980s. Anheuser Busch had Green Valley and Zeigenbock (sp?) ...in addition to ownership of Red Hook and Kona and Widmer.

Miller had Plank Road.

Edit: Maybe it was the 90s. Anyway, long ago.

Edited May 3, 2015 by BeBop

[clifford_thornton]

I sort of assumed that, like "craft" whiskey distilleries, most small-label beers were brewed by a few larger companies.

[BeBop]

There are a couple of different variations in the beer world. There are the labels wholly-owned by the majors, like the ones I mention above. There are some where the majors have a "stake out" interest (possible future acquisition): I would put Red Hook and Widmer in this category, 20 years ago anyway. The majors also do contract brewing for small shops that are growing beyond capacity, using recipes provided. When the fads wax and wane so quickly, what else can you do? I think Sam Adams does a LOT of this. Or did.

[GA Russell]

I think it was in '91 that Atlanta was a test market for Miller Reserve. I loved it.

The following year, Miller reintroduced Miller Reserve to Atlanta, but it was clearly a different recipe, and I didn't like it nearly as much.

The first microbrewery that I ever heard of was Sam Adams, and that was because my aunt lived in Boston, and she told me about it. That was probably in the mid-'80s. (I'm pretty sure that I had heard of Anchor Steam before then, but I don't think that that was ever considered a microbrewery.)

Boston Brewing now claims to be the largest American brewery because the big ones have been sold to foreign corporations.

[danasgoodstuff]

Anchor absolutely is a microbrewery by any objective standard, BUT NOT part of the micro-revolution since it goes way back before that...

[BeBop]

I was brew club friends with a four guys who went on to "make it big" in the first microbrew fad. Maybe I wish I'd had the foresight. (For them, it wasn't a fad; they're still going.)

[.:.impossible]

Where are they now BeBop?

[BeBop]

Do you know the names Gordon, Biersch and Martin*?

* Triple Rock, Big Time...from their history website: "More than 25 years after brewing their first brew, John and Reid Martin are considered "founding fathers" in the brewpub industry, and have gone on to build a small empire of award-winning brewpubs and bars in California and Washington State (Twenty Tank Brewery in San Francisco, Big Time Brewery in Seattle, Drakes Brewing Co. in San Leandro, and Jupiter in Berkeley.) Still, Triple Rock remains their favorite. "It's where real brewpub beer began in the Bay Area," says John. "We feel lucky to have been there at the beginning of the craft brewing renaissance". Some say that you can see a little of Triple Rock in almost every brewpub."

[Jazzmoose]

I've tried Blue Moon. Did anyone really think that the word "craft" had anything to do with it?

[BeBop]

Personally, I can't taste "craft". I just try to avoid "crap".

[.:.impossible]

Do you know the names Gordon, Biersch and Martin*?

* Triple Rock, Big Time...from their history website: "More than 25 years after brewing their first brew, John and Reid Martin are considered "founding fathers" in the brewpub industry, and have gone on to build a small empire of award-winning brewpubs and bars in California and Washington State (Twenty Tank Brewery in San Francisco, Big Time Brewery in Seattle, Drakes Brewing Co. in San Leandro, and Jupiter in Berkeley.) Still, Triple Rock remains their favorite. "It's where real brewpub beer began in the Bay Area," says John. "We feel lucky to have been there at the beginning of the craft brewing renaissance". Some say that you can see a little of Triple Rock in almost every brewpub."

I've been to a couple of Gordon Biersch locations years ago, but didn't know the origin. It seems to be a chain microbrew gastropub type thing.

[Scott Dolan]

I've tried Blue Moon. Did anyone really think that the word "craft" had anything to do with it?

I've intentionally avoided it.

The only beer I've ever had from any of the "big boys" that I thought was good was Michelob Amber Bock. It became my go to brew at sports pubs as it was the only beer I actually enjoyed drinking at establishments that only stocked AB/Miller/Coors products.