Brewdog’s James Watt had a rant here about the need to define “craft beer”. Yep, we’re still talking about that, it seems.

Here’s part of the reason why he thinks we need to define it.

“The need for a definition is as much about protecting and informing the customer as it is the fledgling category.”

I’ve seen the idea of defining “craft beer” as an exercise in wasted time for a while – as this post highlights.

But I really like Martyn Cornell’s riposte to Watt’s rant at his Zythophile blog. He thinks it’s pointless and that Watt is driven more by an aim to protect his market share than anything else. Also, like myself, he figures a definition won’t change beer sales anyway>

“The real point is that, despite Watt’s fantasy, any ‘official’ definition of craft beer, will have little to no impact on the marketplace. Those operators who might be defined as ‘craft beer brewers’ and ‘craft beer retailers’ seem to be doing very well in the UK without any official definition of what they are making and selling.”

You can read Cornell’s full post here.