Craft Brew vs. Micro Brew

       The other day a friend was visiting from Wisconsin.  As has become tradition he brought down an assortment of bottles, as well as a few growlers from Bull Falls Brewery.  A growler, for those in need of edification, is a 1/2 gallon bottle, typically used at breweries that do not sell pre-bottled beer.  Bull Falls is one of those; although they are looking at introducing bottles.  (Please)
       We were conversing alternately about technology, politics, and beer, (we only agree on beer) when he mentioned something along the lines of: "When you are a craft brew drinker..."  I cut him off there with frantic hand motions.  By then I had time to think it through and realized he was, of course, right.  Also he did not mean it as an insult, which is what I thought at first.  (I get called pretentious on occasion)
       I generally now avoid the major label breweries.  While I would like to think that my palate has matured and refined, the truth is that is my mind that has matured, if not refined.  See in my younger days, as I'm sure most of us did, I laughed at the idea that beer could get better than an MGD.  I had tried, once, to buy a pitcher of Leinenkugel's red for my table.  It was left half full.  For the record they advertise their red as the only one that's different.  It is.  I have loved every other red beer I have ever tried.  I have tried it since, it is still bad.  Sorry guys.  It really is the only thing you make I don't adore.
       I had sworn off anything of the sort... then I tried a Killian's... At any rate that opened up a whole new world for me, beer-wise.  But it occurs to me that there is no clear delineation between a craft brew, a micro brew, a regional beer, a brewery, a brew-pub, etc.  There really is not a clear-cut definition either, so lets start with what we know.

       Brewery:  A place that makes beer.  Major breweries are Miller, Anhueser Busch, Coors, etc.  We will use these as the example of a Major Brewery.

       Brew-Pub:  A place that makes beer that is for sale only on premises.  Some also sell growlers, which confuses things.  Most are primarily restaurants.

Based on that, and other prior knowledge we can infer:

       Regional Brewery:  A place that makes a fair amount of pre-bottled product, but is not available outside a certain range.  Lone Star beer is an example of this.  (Edit: I was using  Leinenkugel's as an example, but they are wholly owned by a major label)

       Micro-Brewery:  Oddly most of what we consider "Micro-brews" are either regional brews, or nationally distributed.  There are those who would say that Micro-brew, and craft brew are the same thing, and the term Micro-brew is simply becoming unpopular, but I disagree.  Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee is   a micro-brew.  Not a good one by the way.

       Craft Brewery:  This is a brewery that is owned and operated by beer lovers.  Many do not care if they turn a profit.  Bull Falls and New Glarus are good examples.  They have a very limited distribution range, and some of the best, most flavorful beers money can buy.

       Now I will never turn down a free beer, and sometimes still drink the occasional major label.  But really, in the end, I derive much more pleasure from my select favorite Craft brews.  There are those who swear that such beers are "fine, if you're only having one." I used to be one of them.  That is the lie we tell ourselves when we can't set aside childhood prejudices. (I count childhood to 25, 30 for some of you.)

       Cheers!