• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Dick Cantwell: The future of craft depends on quality

June 6, 2016Keith Gribbins

We’ve been preaching this for a while: Consistent quality is one of the most important progress points and pitfalls for the craft brewing industry. While every brewer will boast about best quality, not everyone has the proper tools to really ensure it. Some don’t have the labs. Some don’t have technicians. Some don’t have the correct processes in place. That could mean trouble. That could mean a customer might go out and have a bad experience with craft beer and generalize the segment as a whole. Every craft brewery needs to be conscientious of that.

When considering quality, start right here: Learn to set up a craft brewery quality assurance program.

The Brewers Association Quality Ambassador Dick Cantwell is preaching that same message. You might remember Cantwell as the brewing brains behind Elysian Brewing Co., which he left as kind of a craft beer maverick. Like a boss, he resigned from Elysian when it was bought by Anheuser-Busch, unhappy with the sale and saying fairly badass things like this:

“In the past few months AB has treated me with consideration and seriousness, and they’ve presented me some pretty exciting future possibilities, should I be able to see my way clear to working for them. But I can’t. I am a craft brewer, past, present and future, no matter what I end up doing. Naturally I’m not one to whine about the Definition, about being on the wrong side of it, etc. I helped craft the thing while I was on the BA Board, and while I have my own personal reservations about some aspects, I think it’s important to recognize some differences in realms of the market.”

Cantwell is as craft as it comes, and now he’s hoping to help you (craft brewer) take your brand and the industry to the next level. Watch the video above. Then, ask the Brewers Association about ensuring your quality processes. Ensure your raw ingredients are clean. Keep accurate records about cleaning and brewing. Use labs and plan for bad batches of beer (the video: “If you aren’t budgeting for some destruction of beer, you aren’t serious about quality.”). It’s a lot of great insight. Watch it above.

Brewers Association continues to champion the idea of independent breweries, launches new awareness campaign
Brewers Conference 2018 cbb crop speech
The Brewers Association posts keynote videos from Craft Brewers Conference, but one seems to be missing
Brewing Eclectic IPA book cover cbb crop
CBC 2018: Meet Dick Cantwell, other famous craft alum, get your books signed
Anheuser_Busch_InBev
Brewers Association gets gimmicky, wants to crowdfund the purchase of Anheuser-Busch InBev

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Artifact_Bret says

    June 6, 2016 at 8:16 pm

    RT @CraftBrewingBiz: Dick Cantwell: The future of craft depends on quality. We stand behind this @BrewersAssoc https://t.co/p0CjZ2JZRf

    Log in to Reply
  2. Leslie Chasse says

    June 6, 2016 at 4:21 pm

    Leslie Chasse liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  3. crsimp01 says

    June 6, 2016 at 3:31 pm

    RT @CraftBrewingBiz: Dick Cantwell: The future of craft depends on quality. We stand behind this @BrewersAssoc https://t.co/p0CjZ2JZRf

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • Ohio’s Catawba Island Brewing plans major expansion, renovated taproom, new beers and way more capacity
  • Mass. Franchise Law UPDATE: Judge denies Atlantic’s injunction, Jack’s Abby heads to arbitration
  • Georgia’s StillFire Brewing is now accepting Bitcoin
  • Check out Briess’ new website, then enjoy this Journey of Malt video series, showing how barley goes from seed to malt

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • brewing lawsuitMass. Franchise Law UPDATE: Judge denies Atlantic’s injunction, Jack’s Abby heads to arbitration
    April 8, 2021
  • Check out Briess’ new website, then enjoy this Journey of Malt video series, showing how barley goes from seed to malt
    April 8, 2021
  • beer healthy glass dumbell working out excercise-001The Beer Flow: better-for-you beer growing, tap volume climbing and RTDs accelerating
    April 6, 2021
  • craft beer sales trendCraft beer sales trends in March: Sours, 16-ouncers trending up, says Tavour
    April 6, 2021
  • Growler-decisionsWatch: Rep. Jim Nash interviews Minnesota craft breweries, shedding light on the state’s useless growler sales cap
    April 5, 2021
  • Brewers Space Guild launches today, pick up some merch
    April 1, 2021

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2021 · CBB Media LLC

Continue ...

sponsored by