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well the way i see it its a good sign that the irish micro market is getting investment attention. but if given the choice between a beer from FW that i like and a micro beer i like i will now always go for the micro beer.

what i would like to see is FW beers being made available in bars that dont currently stock proper beer to open the taste buds of the beer drinking masses

all in all its a good thing and i wish them the best

I think the focus on the word 'craft' has got well out of hand. The debate that's been caused by it is bordering on the ridiculous. Christ, I even read a blog post recently which had coined the phrase 'faux craft' - what the hell is next? 'imitation faux craft', 'post-craft'?! It's a term that captures a basic beer philosophy but there's nothing concrete about it.

I think such is the nature of Ireland's blossoming beer industry, it can only be a positive thing if more people get to try GOOD beer. It doesn't matter what's written on the bottle in my mind; for example, I got caught in a discussion the other week about where you draw the line ABV-wise between IPAs and Imperial IPAs...then I realised that as long as the stuff coming out of the bottle is good then I don't give a monkey's what's on the label.

"Irishman2":2p04wgd7 wrote: For me this is no longer an independent Brewery and for this reason no longer a craft brewery.
[/quote:2p04wgd7]

The Brewer's Association agrees with you[/url:2p04wgd7]

"Biertourist":3gl35k6u wrote: Goose Island still tastes the same as does Redhook ESB and Kona Brewing's Coconut Porter and all have been brewed by AB-Inbev for a couple years now;[/quote:3gl35k6u]

Kona's coconut porter is draft-only and hard to find; I think you're probably thinking of the other Hawaiian brewery, Maui. No corporate ownership there.

And Red Hook is not wholly owned by AB-InBev, there's a holding company in between (Craft Brew Alliance) of which AB/Inbev owns 30% - that keeps them out of the brewing, from what I hear.

Jury's still out on Goose Island...

Interesting, though perhaps not surprising, that the tone of this piece[/url:2pymbh6a] by Goose Island founder John Hall is very similar to the Franciscan Well press release.

I took this from <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="aleheads.com/2012/03/01/big-beer-big-lies/">aleheads.com/2012/03/01/big-beer-big-lies/. A great read. This details why Sam Calagione founder of dogfish head (some of my favourite beer) believes the practice of coors and anheiser Busch is a serious problem to the craft brew industry.

It matters for reasons that Sam Calagione articulated in his recent interview with the Better Beer Authority. He noted:

[quote:2nqjmh6v][i:2nqjmh6v]I get very concerned when seeing a Blue Moon or a Shock Top growing because they don’t have the same challenges as an independent family-owned business. They don’t have the same access to market challenges or the same access to ingredient challenges. So when they go into a retailer and charge $30 less for a keg but tell the retailer that they can charge the same as Dogfish Head or Lagunitas or whatever, that is not a karmic playing field. I want to see large brewers not lose market share but I want to see the small breweries own [the market share of] what defines a craft brewery.[/i:2nqjmh6v][/quote:2nqjmh6v]