Distinguishing craft from 'crafty' beers

Despite what the label may imply, Blue Moon Belgium is not a craft beer. It's manufactured through SABMiller.

David Young in The Coloradoan writes that while the label once identified who made the beer, in recent years, these associations have become blurred.

Large, macrobrewing companies are buying out craft beer companies or creating their own offshoot brands that resemble craft brands such as Anheuser-Bush's Shock Top, Young writes.

In defense of small, independent American brewers, the Brewers Association issued a statement titled "Craft vs. Crafty," to narrow the definition of a "craft brewer."

"An American craft brewer, defined by the Brewers Association, has an annual production of six million barrels of beer or less and no more than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or controlled by an alcoholic beverage industry member who is not a craft brewer," Young writes.

Anything else is defined as a "crafty" brew.

"The point we bring up is to not to blur the lines in the marketplace, to stay true to bring up what is in the bottle," Julia Herz, the Brewers Association craft beer program director, said. "And no one should tell beer lovers what to drink. They need to educate themselves and go forth, conquer and enjoy."

Read Young's full post here.