E-Malt.com News article: USA: Brewers Association Board Meeting produces strategic changes

At a two-day meeting held February 26-27 in Boulder, CO, the Brewers Association (BA) Board of Directors introduced changes to the association’s foundational framework to better serve the not-for-profit trade group’s membership of small and independent American craft brewers, according to Association’s news release of March 3.

The Board approved changes to the Brewers Association purpose, mission, core values & beliefs, and the craft brewer definition.

Purpose

Slightly revised, the Brewers Association now states its purpose as: To promote and protect American craft brewers, their beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts.

“In spirit and action, our purpose remains unchanged,” said Gary Fish, chair of the BA Board of Directors and president of Deschutes Brewery. “Removing the previous reference to ‘craft beers’—which the Brewers Association does not define, but rather leaves to the beer enthusiast—allows the focus to remain on the craft brewers the BA works to promote and protect.”

Mission

The Brewers Association mission now states:

By 2020, America’s craft brewers will have more than 20 percent market share and will continue to be recognized as making the best beer in the world. We will:

Promote access to raw materials and markets
Support research and advances in safety, sustainability, education, technology and raw materials
Exercise political influence to secure fair legislative and regulatory treatment
Foster the commitment to quality
Educate consumers to understand and champion beer from craft brewers
Cultivate new ideas and a commitment to a living and active beer culture among craft brewers, homebrewers and beer enthusiasts

Core Values & Beliefs

The Brewers Association core values & beliefs are now described as follows:

Promoting and celebrating the small, independent, traditional and innovative culture of American craft brewers
Vigorously defending our industry and providing craft brewers with a unified voice
Fostering transparency within our own organization
Supporting and encouraging the responsible enjoyment of beer
Providing stewardship for 10,000 years of brewing history
Educating brewers and consumers about the diversity, flavor and quality of beer
Improving the economic health of American craft brewers
Working to build a collegial community of brewers, homebrewers and brewing enthusiasts
Promoting ethical and legal trade practices
Building relationships and collaborating with our industry partners

Specifically, the word “innovative” was added to the first bullet point among the core values & beliefs to recognize that cutting edge component of craft brewing. The phrase “unified voice” was moved to a more appropriate context within the core values & beliefs, “fostering transparency” moved up the list to show recognition of the importance of this value, and “collegial” was added to “community of brewers,” while clarifying that homebrewers are part of this group.

Craft Brewer Definition

The three pillars of the craft brewer definition remain the same; however, under the BA Board’s direction, some elements of each pillar have been modified to reflect the evolution within the industry. Specifically, the craft brewer definition now states:
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 a beverage alcohol 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.

The Brewers Association craft brewer definition debuted in 2007 as a necessary framework for craft industry statistical reporting and trend measurement. The association amended the definition in 2010 — changing “small” from annual production of 2 million barrels or less to 6 million barrels or less — to allow growing craft brewers not to be penalized for their success, to reflect the realities of doing business in a marketplace dominated by 100+ million barrel, multinational brewing corporations, and to align with the association’s excise tax recalibration efforts.

About the Brewers Association

The Brewers Association is the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts. The Brewers Association (BA) represents more than 70 percent of the brewing industry, and its members make more than 99 percent of the beer brewed in the U.S.


05 March, 2014