Big Beer: blanket term for large beer companies. AB-InBev and SABMiller are the parent companies of America’s largest beer producers, Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors, respectively. When this book refers to “Big Beer,” it is a reference to these two companies.
Big Spirits: blanket term for large spirit companies. Diageo overwhelmingly dominates the American spirits industry. But Pernod Ricard, Bacardi, Beam Suntory, Brown-Forman, and Gruppo Campari are also major spirits producers. When this book refers to “Big Spirits,” it refers to all these companies.
Craft Alcoholic Beverage Industry: general term used to describe independently owned breweries, distilleries, and cideries that create alcoholic beverages using small batch methods. In this book, we are concerned with American beer, spirits, and hard cider. The “craft alcoholic beverage industry” is a term we use as a matter of convenience. You won’t find it used this way elsewhere.
For one thing, “craft” doesn’t have a specific definition. “Craft” typically refers to producers who aren’t “big;” however it doesn’t mean these are “small” producers. The various “craft” trade associations define “craft” differently. Regional producers, such as Yuengling Brewery, increasingly are included under the “craft” umbrella even though they have been around for centuries and make more product than any of the younger companies typically identified as “craft.” Technically, wine should be included as a craft alcoholic beverage; however, it is beyond the scope of this book.
Craft Brewery: independently owned (less than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or controlled by an alcoholic beverage industry member that is not itself a craft brewer), producing no more than 6 million barrels of beer a year. Embracing European traditions, craft brewers use malted grains and fresh hops to revive old styles as well as to invent new ones.
Craft Cidery: independently owned cider production facility. Because the American hard cider industry is just starting to gain traction, there are tiny, small, smaller, and very fast growing cideries. The meaningful difference between cideries is not their size; rather it is the ingredients in the cider they produce. If hard cider includes apple juice concentrate or added sugars or preservatives, it is referred to as “industrial” hard cider in this book.
For the purposes of this book, “artisan” hard cider is fresh fruit juice—typically apples, quince and pears—and is often an orchard-centered operation.
Craft Distillery: as defined by The American Craft Spirits Association, craft distillers are independent, licensed distillers annually producing fewer than 750,000 proof gallons of spirits.
Three-Tier System: The repeal of Prohibition introduced new rules for the distribution and sale of alcoholic beverages, requiring producers to operate separately from distributors, which operated separately from retailers, thus the three-tier system. Each state established its own set of rules for the three-tier system. With the craft movement, most states have waived some of these rules for small producers. But for the vast majority of producers, the three-tier system still governs the overall sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages.