That’s Mr. Beer to You!

No
one ever said growing up was easy to do. Maturity begets
responsibility and so follows the necessity of prioritizing
efforts, goals, and interests. Be it graduating from school,
entering the workforce, raising a family, or running a craft
brewery, everyone eventually has to become an
adult.

At the recent
Craft Brewers Conference, the annual gathering of members of
the Brewers Association, keynote speaker Sam Calagione spoke
in rhyme and colorful metaphor of the precarious coming of
age for craft brewers. Once filled solely with the joys of
making small batches in kitchens and little brewhouses,
present-day craft brewers toil day-by-day in a system rife
with daunting hurdles and formidable, driven competitors. In
the thick of this environment, Calagione urged fellow small
brewers to keep track of their respective goals and passions
during the aging process. “Our commitment to having
one-another’s backs is more important now than ever,” he
said. “As big breweries and big distributors court our
reinvigorated growth, we need to be careful that any
alliance we make doesn’t compromise the unique terroirs we
have worked so hard to develop. We do not view one another
as faceless competitors. We look at each other as
similar-minded individuals – groups of people equally
committed to the betterment of a beer drinking
society.”

It’s really not
all doom-and-gloom in the business of maturing. Like the
best of adults, craft brewers have not lost touch with the
inner child passions that caused them to forsake regular
nine-to-five jobs, complete with their pesky defined benefit
plans and dental insurance coverage. As Calagione told that
group of like-minded businesspeople, “We are not in the
business of growth, we are in the business of making world
class beer – growth is just a by-product of our business.
Money is a means to our end and not an end in itself. I
don’t think we should give a crap if it takes us 12 or 17 or
2O years to achieve the 1O% mark. We should never be
consumed with prioritizing growth. The reason we got into
trouble eight years ago is that some people started to think
that was what we were all about.”

The
ADULT in the ROOM
If the craft brewers are the teenagers coming to grips with
their identities, then the Brewers Association (BA) occupies
the role of the benevolent adult figure. Established in 2OO5
through the merger of the Association of Brewers and the
Brewers’ Association of America, the new group seeks to
better the interests of the brewing industry and to promote
brewing knowledge and quality beer among the public. As the
craft brewing industry has grown up, so has the BA. Once
focused on homebrewing events and a single beer festival,
the group now seeks to speak with a unified voice on behalf
of small brewers. The group’s goal is clear: “By 2O1O,
America’s craft brewers will have 5% market share, will be
recognized as making the best beer in the world and will be
politically influential enough to secure fair legislative
and regulatory treatment for craft brewers.”

With these
considerable goals in mind, the Brewers Association has
shifted its focus to include increased public relations
efforts and legislative advocacy. While the group remains
dedicated to promoting and celebrating the small,
independent and traditional culture of American craft
brewers – best demonstrated through the Great American Beer
Festival (now in its 25th year) – the BA now also seeks to
vigorously defend the interests of the industry in legal and
political arenas.

The BA regularly
lobbies members of Congress and federal agencies on behalf
of brewery members regarding a range of issues and the group
is beginning to enjoy some returns on its investment of
time. On June 6, the United States House of Representatives
gave unanimous consent to House Resolution 753, “commending
America’s craft brewers for their many and varied
contributions to the nation’s communities, economy, culture,
and history.” Primarily sponsored by Representatives
Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) and Peter DeFazio (D-OR), and with
7O additional Congressmen co-sponsoring the measure, the
resolution passed in 6O days and helped promote American
Craft Beer Week.

With financial
assistance from the United States Department of Agriculture,
the BA created its Export Development Committee (EDC). In
perhaps the surest sign of the strength and maturity of the
industry, the association targets specialty beer importers
and distributors in Europe, Asia and Canada with promotional
efforts designed to increase their awareness and
appreciation of the flavor, diversity and quality of
American craft beer. Members of the EDC include
representatives from Dogfish Head, Shipyard Brewing, Sierra
Nevada, Flying Dog, and Boston Beer, among others. Since
2OO5, the EDC has sponsored reverse trade missions and
export targeted seminars at its events, participated in
numerous international beer festivals and trade shows,
including recent shows in Stockholm and Italy, and conducted
a market research study of the Chinese market for imported
American craft beer.

The BA recently
concluded its annual export survey in preparation for
submitting the group’s application for continued export
assistance funds from the USDA. For the third consecutive
year, the survey demonstrated that American craft beer
exports increased substantially, with growing of 14% in
2OO4. The survey cited Western Europe as the best market for
American craft beers.

KEEPING
an EYE on LEGISLATIVE MATTERS
The BA continues to represent the interests of small brewers
on a range of legislative issues, including taxation, direct
shipping and processing matters before the Alcohol and
Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). The BA has been
particularly active in addressing recent notices of federal
rulemaking relating to beverage alcohol labels.

In response to a
petition filed by several consumer advocacy groups, known as
Notice No. 41, the TTB is considering some controversial
changes to the labels on beverage alcohol containers sold in
the United States. Offered by the Center for Science in the
Public Interest (CSPI) and the National Consumers League
(NCL), the petition covers issues ranging from ingredient
lists, alcohol information and a new government
caution.

In order to
“provide the American public with adequate information as to
the identity and quality of beverage alcohol products”, the
petitioners asked the TTB to require beverage alcohol labels
to include the product’s alcohol content, the serving size
of the container, the amount of alcohol and calories per
serving, list of ingredients (including additives), the
number of standard drinks per container, and a governmental
opinion as to moderate drinking for men and
women.

The petitioners
cited consumer demand for the new information in making
their case for the new regulations. In one study cited by
NCL and CSPI, the Global Strategy Group, an independent
Washington DC-based polling and market research firm, found
strong support for including serving sizes, calorie content,
alcohol content, and a list of ingredients on the labels of
beverage alcohol products. The petitioners argue that
providing consumers with this additional information will
help them make more informed choices about their consumption
of alcohol and help those who are allergic to some
ingredients and additives. The petitioners also cited,
without providing a source, that such new labeling would
help reduce consumer confusion over the different types of
beverage alcohol and the amounts of alcohol in each
product.

In reviewing
existing laws, the petitioners cited some peculiar
disparities in the labeling of beverage alcohol.
Specifically, they note that wines and hard ciders
containing less than 7% alcohol by volume are not subject to
the TTB’s regulations. The Food and Drug Administration
(FDA), which requires nutritional information, including
calorie counts, to appear on the label, instead govern these
products. Malt beverages, including beer, are not required
under federal law to carry this information, or list the
alcohol content. Only light beers must disclose certain
nutritional information. As CSPI and NCL point out in their
petition, existing alcohol labeling laws strain credulity to
explain why a 7% a.b.v. wine should be required to include
nutritional and alcohol information, while all beers and
those wines above that alcohol level should be separately
regulated and thus exempt.

By far the most
controversial and inherently political element of the
petition is the request that labels contain detailed
information about alcohol levels, serving sizes and
recommended amounts of consumption. While the petition’s
proposed label would include relatively innocuous “alcohol
facts” and statements, such as the beverage’s alcohol by
volume and the amount of alcohol in terms of fluid ounces,
it also includes an icon relating the number of standard
drinks per container and the US Dietary Guidelines advice on
moderate drinking for men and women.