Craft / micro Breweries owned by Big ones

[Boondock902]

Just wondering - I see that Hop City, which brews some very enjoyable beers, is owned by Moosehead. It states this on its website and adds that it "operates independently". So does this classify as a 'craft brewery"? What does the ownership bit mean? Is it truly classified as a microbrewery?

[chalmers]

I don't believe there are any regulations in Canada that define what a Craft brewery is, so I use the definition put forward by the Brewer's Association in the US (also not a regulation). The volume numbers might be a bit skewed big for US, though.

http://www.brewersassociation.org/stati ... r-defined/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

CRAFT BREWER DEFINED
An (American) craft brewer is small, independent and traditional.

Small
Annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less (approximately 3 percent of U.S. annual sales). Beer production is attributed to the rules of alternating proprietorships.

Independent
Less than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by an alcoholic beverage industry member that is not itself a craft brewer.

Traditional
A brewer that has a majority of its total beverage alcohol volume in beers whose flavor derives from traditional or innovative brewing ingredients and their fermentation. Flavored malt beverages (FMBs) are not considered beers.

Moosehead itself is sort of riding the line between craft and not, I feel. By this definition, I guess they are craft, but I feel weird calling them that. Too much corporate culture, maybe? Profits over people? Though there are plenty of small breweries/businesses where that is true too.

Hmm, I dunno how that would translate to Hop City. My heart wants to say no, they aren't (maybe I'm blaming the son for the sins of the father?), but I don't know enough about how they produce their beer.

[dean2k]

I think we typically like "craft beer" because of its variety and taste. If we only look at volumes, then I wonder if producers like Stone or DFH fall outside of the craft beer definition. I'd more than likely drink a Moosehead Boundary before I'd drink yet another lager from Craft Brewery XYZ.

Just my 2 cents