Micro, macro, craft, brewpub what the heck does it all mean?

Going to try to explain all of these labels that get tossed around about different levels of brewing and the beer industry. 

First off what is a macrobrewery?  These are the big guys Anheuser- Busch InBev http://www.ab-inbev.com/, MillerCoors http://www.millercoors.com/our-beers/great-beer.aspx and Diageo http://www.diageo.com/en-row/ourbrands/Pages/default.aspx to name a few.  Many a craft brew lover has deemed these as the "evil" empires, I was one.  Not all beers from the macro guys are bad, even the yellow fizzy water they make takes extreme skill to make.  These macro brews dominate the market in sales.  AB InBev makes brands as Budweiser, Stella Artois,  Becks and Hoegaarden  to name a few. Miller Coors have merged and included in that is SAB, some brands they make include Coors, Miller, Pilsner Urquell, Peroni and Blue Moon.  Diageo's brands include Guinness, Harp, Smithwicks and Red Stripe.  The macros have taken a page from the micro craft guys and have started some of their own "craft" beer labels.  Macrobrewers are learning that they must change to maintain their size.

Next up is the microbrewery label.  By definition a microbrewery makes less than 15,000 barrels of beer a year.  US measurement of a barrel is 31 gallons, a keg of beer is 15.5 gallons also know as a 1/2 barrel.  So microbreweries are small breweries known for their making of quality or craft beer.  Also included under this label are the brewpubs and nanobreweries.  Brewpubs are microbreweries that have a restaurant as well as a brewery under the roof.  Nanobreweries  are a fairly recent development and are breweries that produce as little as 4 barrels or less a year.  These are often, depending on state laws in a garage, a basement or even a shed in the backyard.  These breweries are still fully licensed with the state and federal authorities.  If a brewer sells beer they must be licensed, no questions asked.

The umbrella of microbreweries encompasses many labels as you see from above.  So that craft brew you love or your local brewpub is actually a microbrewery.  So that encompasses such beers as Dogfishead http://www.dogfish.com/, Bell's http://www.bellsbeer.com/, New Glarus http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/ and our local favorites of Bent, Great River, Front St. and Blue Cat. 

Then there are the brewers that are in between often know as regional brewers.  These are a mixture of breweries such as family breweries like Yuengling http://www.yuengling.com/over21/over21.php?referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yuengling.com%2F, August Schell or breweries that have outgrown their micro roots like Sam Adams http://www.samueladams.com/ and Sierra Nevada http://www.sierranevada.com/.  This group of breweries are bigger than micros but no where near as big as the macros.  They have some interesting back stories such as Yuengling is the oldest family owned brewery in America and Sam Adams is now the largest American owned brewery.

Hopefully I have help clarify some of the labels that are thrown around about breweries.

QC Beerguy