Brewers Association Changes Definition of “Craft Brewer”

I’ve been following this story for quite some time, and in the end I’m happy to report that  the decision just made by the Brewers Association means very little to you and I.  Effective Dec 20th, the Brewers Association has changed their bylaws to reflect that the designation “small” in the Brewers Association’s definition of “craft beer” will now include any brewery with an annual production of UNDER 6-million barrels of beer to be “small.”  The previous threshold was 2-million barrels annually set over 30-years ago.  As it stands now this decision only affects Boston Beer Co / Samuel Adams who were relatively close (depending on who’s definition you believe) to crossing the 2-million barrel yearly output.  Following not so closely behind is Sierra Nevada with an annual production of just over 800,000 barrels….so as I said, other than Sam Adams future marketing campaigns and the tax breaks they will continue to see as a “small” craft brewery , this means very little to you and I.