Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/131975
forefront Craft orcrafty? Tension is brewing as large commercial beer producers take advantage of the swell in consumer support for craft beer, finds Mitch Brook. While consumption of mainstream beers in Australia has been declining steadily, reaching a 65-year low in 2011, craft beers have been countering this trend with strong growth. "There's a huge demand for craft beer across Australia; it's the second-largest-growing beer subcategory in Australia at the moment," says Ian Kingham, merchandise manager at Dan Murphy's, one of Australia's biggest beverage retailers. "Craft beer is the second-fastest-growing segment after cider, and that's pretty much consumer led." Kingham says Australians have traditionally been used to lighter lager brews, which is evident from the dominance of Australia's lager-based mainstream beers. However, our tastes are slowly changing, he says, as our palates evolve to appreciate a wider range of beers. The first step has been towards light-style ales such as pale ales. "To go from a lager to a very full-flavoured, high-alcohol, challenging beer at the other end of the spectrum is, as a general rule, far too great a leap," Kingham says. "What we've found is there are more and more brewers producing lighter-style ales. The reason for that is people are looking for flavour but they're not moving too far away from what they're used to." On the spectrum of beer tastes, there are the mainstream Australian lagers and light ales at one end, and the darker ales, stouts and heavier beers at the other. It will take time for Australian palates to appreciate the full spectrum, says 52 Kingham, but already there is a swell of support for well-crafted beers of all types. The making of craft beer in Australia was pioneered in the 1980s by the Matilda Bay Brewing Company; those original brewers went on to establish Little Creatures in 2000. Today, there are about 200 microbreweries in Australia working to produce their own styles of craft beer. Often, they're small-batch, experimental brews made with incredible passion and involvement on the part of the brewer. As craft brews become more prominent and popular, a dichotomy is emerging between the small, family-owned businesses that are experimenting with new brewing methods and styles and the big corporations that are launching their own craft beers. The small brewers feel that they are being taken advantage of; that they have driven the development of the market, only for the big corporations to come in and take advantage of consumers with crafty marketing. They release their new ranges in packaging that appears similar to 'real craft' beer, as the small brewers call it, but often these beers are made in the same breweries as the mainstream beers. "A real craft beer is produced by a real craft brewer and brewery; they're small, independent and local producers," says David Hollyoak, chairman of the Australian Real Craft Brewers Association (ARCBA) and director and master brewer of Redoak Brewery in Sydney. "The big difference is large commercial brewers are backed and