Craft Brewing is the descendent of the microbrewing movement that started in the UK in the late 1970s, flourished in the United States in the 1990s, and spread to the corners of the world in the first decade of the 21st century. See microbrewery. Craft brewing is the pursuit of small, independent commercial breweries, making beer by largely traditional means and with largely traditional ingredients, with the goal of making beer that is far more flavorful than the common brands made by large international breweries. As is often the case with cultural movements, there is no single definition of the terminology upon which everyone will agree. However it is defined, craft brewing universally involves boldly flavored beers coupled with a defiantly independent spirit. Although the term “craft brewing” is normally used to refer to breweries that have opened in recent decades, most brewers and beer enthusiasts would agree that many older European breweries also meet the definition.

Craft brewing has taken hold most solidly in the United States, where more than 90% of the approximately 1,700 breweries in the country meet almost any definition of the term. Almost all of these breweries have opened in the past 30 years, and as of 2011 they represented approximately 7.6% of American beer sales dollars. American craft brewers include about 1,000 brewpubs; the other 700 are small packaging breweries (who mostly sell beer outside their own premises), breweries that have become large enough to distribute throughout a region, and a few that have become large enough to sell beer throughout the country. The segment also includes some breweries that produce their own beers partly or entirely under contract at breweries that they do not own. See brewpub and contract brewing.

A brewer at the Carolina Brewery in Pittsboro, North Carolina, removes spent grains from the mash tun in a process known as “mashing out.” joshua weinfeld

Craft brewing usually involves brewing beers that are made entirely or almost entirely from barley and/or wheat malt. Adjuncts, such as sugar, honey, and unmalted grains, are generally used to enhance the flavor of the beer rather than to make it lighter and more acceptable to a mass audience. One of the results is that craft beer flavors tend to be more pronounced than those of mass-produced lagers, which are brewed to be as cleanly innocuous as possible. Hop character, often including bitterness levels several times those of mass-market beers, suffuses many craft beer styles. Big hop flavor and aroma are also par for the course, and American craft brewers lead the world in the use of traditional flavor-enhancing techniques such as dry hopping and newer ones such as mash hopping. See dry hopping and mash hopping. Craft brewers have repopularized a range of brewing techniques, including spicing, bottle conditioning, barrel aging, and even intentional souring of beer to help create exciting new flavors. See barrel-aging, bottle conditioning, sour beer, and spices.

Airline deregulation in 1978 resulted in lower airfares, helping change air travel to Europe from an unreachable luxury to a rite of passage or normal vacation for many middle class Americans. Many of them came back to the United States with fresh memories of the beautiful depth of British cask-conditioned ales, the bright hop quality of German pilsners, and the beguiling complexities of Belgian beers brewed by Trappist monks. Now disappointed by the neutral-tasting lager style that filled virtually every bottle, can, and keg in the nation, many of them started making their own beer at home. When President Jimmy Carter made homebrewing legal in 1978, legions more joined in, looking not for cheaper beer, but for beer with more flavor. Americans taking trips to Europe also brought back a growing connoisseurship in food and drink, a passion that flowered first on the West Coast of the United States.

Becoming a craft brewer strikes many people as a dream job, but the fact is that the road of the craft brewer has never been easy. Surely there are some breweries that have opened smoothly and easily, meeting with instant success. More often, however, the tale is initially one of grit, hard toil, and penury. In the vast majority of cases, the brewer will transition from being an enthusiastic homebrewer working in an unrelated industry to work in a commercial brewery at a fraction of his or her former salary. In the late 1990s, a somewhat predictable shake-out occurred in the American craft brewing industry, leading many journalists to quickly declare that the craft brewing movement was over. Although many breweries did close during this period, the growth rate for the remaining craft brewers recovered within a few years and the segment soon regained its strength. Whereas overall beer sales in the United States have declined over the past several years, craft beer sales have continued to rise sharply, with many breweries enjoying double-digit increases every year. It remains difficult for some brewers to find appropriate distribution channels, but the situation is changing as many distributors come to realize that craft beer may represent their best chances for future growth.

Although craft brewers do compete against each other, craft brewing is generally marked by a cooperative and collaborative nature. Many breweries create, produce, and market special-edition beers with each other, and the outcomes of these collaborations are often widely sought out by enthusiasts. Seasonal and limited-edition beers are also common, and it is not unusual for a brewery to produce 20 or more different beers every year.

Food has become an increasingly important part of the craft brewing movement. Most craft breweries participate in beer dinners on a regular basis, either at their own facilities or at restaurants. This is not surprising; most craft brewmasters have a chef-like outlook on beer and brewing. The wide range of flavors available within both traditional and new beers styles gives these beers remarkable versatility for food pairings. See cheese (pairing) and food pairing.

In the United States, craft-brewed beer is still most firmly entrenched in the coastal cities, with the notable exceptions of Michigan and Colorado, which are each hotspots with dozens of breweries. In terms of market share, craft beer shows particular strength in the Pacific Northwest, with Portland, Oregon, as an epicenter. In Portland, craft-brewed beer has nearly 40% of the draught beer market. Over the past decade, areas of the country that had not previously seemed fertile ground for craft beer, particularly the South, have sprouted vibrant craft brewing scenes.

As of 2011, the craft brewing movement showed remarkable strength in many countries outside the United States. Small breweries have continued their comeback in the UK, which is home to almost 800 breweries. Most UK brewers have remained firmly committed to traditional cask-conditioned British beer styles, and few have ventured into beers influenced by other brewing cultures. There are exceptions, however, and it is to be expected that the UK brewing culture will become increasingly diverse over time. Craft brewing in Scandinavia tends in the opposite direction, with highly creative brewers drawing ideas from many sources, including historical Scandinavian beer styles that had previously become extinct. Italian craft brewers show similar creative flair and a notable focus on Italian food traditions and local ingredients such as chestnuts. Brazilian and Argentinian craft brewers have resurrected the German brewing cultures that flourished in many parts of South America in the 1800s.

The definition of the term “craft brewer” will continue to be controversial. It is worth noting that in some countries the term refers to homebrewing. In 2011 the Brewers Association (BA) in the United States revised its definition to include breweries producing less than 7,040,866 hl (6 million US bbls) per year. According to the BA,

Craft brewing is an evolving culture, and in many ways the definition is in the eye of the beholder. Within decades it is entirely possible that beers and breweries that are currently seen as “craft” will simply be looked upon as normal or even “classic.”