Brewing is an art form

) While the BMC (Bud, Miller, Coors) brewers may produce beer for money for intoxicating beverages, craft brewers do not. According to the Craft Brewers Association, up until last year, the maximum number of barrels allowed to be produced in order to be called a craft brewery is 2 million barrels. After Samuel Adams produced over that 2 million barrels, the number was pushed to 6 million barrels. However, this is still well under the amount of barrels produced by BMC's. Many brewers take a couple years before they make a small profit, and many more years before they can pay themselves. And you know what? They don't care to pay themselves all the time (I am a home brewer looking to give my art to the public, and I'll do it without the idea behind making a huge profit). Alcohol is a by-product of the art, the 'art' is not the by-product itself. Many brewers have the intent to create art. It is their craft. CRAFT. Arts and Crafts usually go hand in hand. 2) Again, the alcohol is a by-product of the art. Just like graphic designers, authors, and painters have pieces that are taken in such a way that can be deterimental to society. People interpret them wrong and do some pretty crazy stuff. Well, at least they claim it does, just like people claim alcohol had full control over their decisions. Think Catcher in the Rye, John Lennon, and Mark David Chapman. Also, when people are drinking craft beer, they are usually drinking one kind, or are having a sampler platter that has a small amount of a handful of beers. And I have yet to see craft beer fans be violent, however I have seen bar goers do just that, but that is with the intent of being intoxicated. Just like wine offcianatos drink wine for it's taste, not the quanity of alcohol, craft beer fans are there for the look, smell, taste, and mouthfeel (the way it feels in the mouth). This art of brewing beer has definitely furthered society. When it was first invented, the water was undrinkable due to it's filth. No, they did not need to make beer, but they had something to replace what was simply deadly water. This art of beer further society in SUCH a big way. We know that the pilgrims stopped at Plymouth Rock, right? Well, do you know why they did? They ran out of beer. ( http://www.straightdope.com...), (http://www.fermentarium.com...) The pilgrims ran out of provisions, beer being one of them, because it replaced water for them. 3) This could not be further from the truth. Brewing allows for a wide variety of expression. Many, MANY spices and seasonings can be added, as well as fruit flavors. And craft brewed beer is not cheap. While a 12 case of Budwiser may cost $6.00, a handcrafted brewed 12 ounce bottle of beer can cost between $3.00 and $9.00. Almost $30 for a alcohol barrel aged beer in a 22 ounce bottle. A craft beer lover will take in to account all sorts of qualities. In fact, look at ratebeer.com or beeradvocate.com, they give criteria in which one should rate their beer, such as, and I listed before, apperence, aroma, taste, and mouthfeel. The brewer out of the picture? Wrong. Boston Brewing Company's Founder Jim Koch is very in the picture of his brewery. In fact, if you take a tour of his brewery, you will see him working with in the brewery, not just an office either. This goes for many other breweries. The brewer has many qualities of artists and craft beer has qualities of arts. Even though the mainstream idea of beer is fuzzy yellow water BMC that is designed to be cheap and get you intoxicated, there is a whole different group of brewers. They just happen to be smaller than the mainstream, giving them the name "microbrews or microbreweries". They have ideas, they put them to work, they present the art to an audience, and the audience takes in the art and assesses it's qualities, the same way art critics and music critics assess the products of artists and musicians.