If it is good does it really matter where the beer is brewed? Yes, when you live just miles from the brewer but still get product from thousands of miles away. That is my case with Kona Brewing Co. They are about a two hour drive from me in Hilo but when I buy my favorite Koko Brown, it is made on the mainland and has traveled half the planet to get to me. That bothers me a bit. Maui Brewing Co. makes everything here in the Islands and they do a hell of a job. My hat is off to them for not getting too big and commercial. They also have a couple of their beers on the top 20 list for craft beers available in cans. I agree and often go to one of theirs when in town buying beer.
This article from Munchies talks mainly about Kona but as we all know it’s going on everywhere, and it just makes sense.
Following the correct protocol, with the correct checks in place, why is this a bad thing? The closer the consumer is to the producer the less the carbon footprint. Unless, of course, you can actually tell which brewery your favorite beer is from, without any clues, and one is far better than the other. Then you have a case against this type of thing,but that is not likely for most of us.
Nevertheless, Kona isn’t peddling a bland brew. And they’ve taken steps to insure the influence of aloha within the bottle. How? By implementing expensive measures to emulate these water qualities on the mainland.
“I was one of the brewers at the brewery that brewed the first batch of Longboard Island Lager on the East Coast, so I know the challenges they face on the mainland, firsthand,” says Smith. Installing a treatment system to mimic the minerality of Hawaiian water, for one, was no simple task. The whole process took about five years before the recipes were correctly dialed in.
In the latest round of disputes, Anheuser-Busch InBev stood accused of failing to detail that its Beck’s brand, which hails from Germany, has been produced in the US for the US market since 2012. The affair has cost the company a US$3.5m settlement and a pledge to partially refund consumers up to US$50 per household.
At the start of the year, the brewer had the same problem with Japanese brand Kirin, which is also brewed in the US, for the market.
That’s from just-drinks.
The big thing here is just be honest, label the beer, where is it brewed.
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