What makes beer ‘craft beer’ is a hotly debated subject among beer geeks worldwide. Every person has their own definition of what a craft beer is. To me it is a beer which is well made, has assertive flavour, and stays true to its stated style, while respecting the ingredients.
Big brewers have noticed the trend towards craft beer and have tried to capitalize on it by releasing different brands which claim ‘craft’ status. The fact is that these beers are made in the same Auckland mega breweries as Waikato Draught and Export—they just come out the other end with a fancier label.
Big brewers reinforce their ‘craft’ brands with massive marketing budgets, fueling campaigns that try to make you believe the beer is good before it even passes your lips. Small brewers can’t afford such things. They rely on drinkers to believe what’s on the label and take a leap of faith to give their beer a go.
So what happens when a new independent brewery with a marketing budget produces the characterless beer of a mega brewery, while still flying the craft beer banner? You get Stoke beers.
When I first heard the original Mac’s brewery in Nelson was reopening to brew beer again, this time under the name McCashin’s, I was excited. When Mac’s was in its heyday, creating some of the most respected craft brews in the country, I lived almost next door to the brewery but was underage. So I had hoped this move would mean I could taste a reflection of their previous brilliance.
But what McCashin’s has produced is a series of generic, mediocre beers, named after their colour so as not to confuse their target market: Gold, Amber and Dark.
Before I get ahead of myself, I should explain these beers. First, there is Stoke Gold, which seems aimed at the same demographic as Mac’s or Monteith’s Gold. Vaguely malty, golden in the glass and ‘easy drinking’—except from what I’ve tasted the beer has various brewing faults, throwing off any semblance of sessionability and making it actually worse than the beers it sets out to mimic.
Next in the range is Stoke Amber. I was given this beer blind recently at a BBQ. I found it thin-bodied, with a slightly toasty malt character similar to that of supermarket homebrew kits. Enough said.
Stoke Dark, unsurprisingly, looks dark in the glass. But what sets this beer apart from the rest of the range is that is has an obvious malt character, with coffee and cocoa flavours. Despite getting something right, it still manages to portray this flavour over a thin, watery body.
I take the faults in these beers more personally in this case, not just because they bear the name of my hometown, but also because McCashin’s is actively marketing the range as a craft beer.
If I was a newbie to craft beer and picked up a Stoke Gold for the first time, I’d think that it was equal to, if not worse than any of the other big name lagers out there—but cost me more.
That is where the danger lies. Branding sub-par beer as craft beer cheapens the image of every other craft beer on the shelf.
If you have any questions or comments about this week’s column or beer in general, please contact me at davethebeerguy@gmail.com or Tweet at me @davethebeerguy