(Burlington, VT) – The Burlington Free Press has an interview up with Magic Hat Brewing founder and Alchemy and Science (Boston Beer Co. subsidiary) chief, Alan Newman. This quote, piggy-backing on recent discussions around criticism of large craft brewers, grabbed my attention.

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BFP: In your book you say that beer geeks are “one of the industry problems these days.” Can you explain that?

AN: There are two groups out there: beer-lovers and beer geeks. Beer lovers love beer. I’ll put myself in that category. I love and appreciate good beer. Then there are beer geeks who ask questions like, “Have I never heard of it [a beer or brewer] before?” “Is it from a really small brewery?” “Does it have more than 75 I.B.U.’s? [International bittering units – a measure of bitterness related to hops in a beer; 75 is very high.] All they want is highly hopped, high-alcohol beers. They have disdain for the mainstream, but mainstream is what will bring more customers in, what will grow the category. They get very hung up on the size of a brewer and who owns them. Like Goose Island in Chicago is an old craft brewery, very respected. Anheuser-Busch bought something like 25-30 percent of them. So are they still a craft brewer? More importantly, to my mind, do they make craft beers? Does it matter who owns them?

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Thoughts?