I came across a story at Business Insider the other day about Asheville's craft brew culture.  There were a few things I found of particular note.

First, that breweries need three ingredients to be successful in a certain location: space, easy access to road and rail, and good water.

This actually struck me as FOUR things, because roads and rail are different.  But let's just call it transportation and move along.

Then I thought, "What about tax structures and government subsidies?"  Would we have New Belgium and Sierra Nevada coming otherwise?  Oka, let's not get bogged down in the details.

But most intriguing (at least for me), was a comment posted by somebody named "Beer Advocate."  Here's what he/she said (emphasis mine):

I love articles about Asheville's growing craft beer scene. It's true, it has a great beer culture.

But implying it's somehow the best (or "The Craft Beer Capital") is just plain ignorance. It's this perspective that makes it sort of a joke, because while they have 11 or so breweries and two major brewery expansions, somehow saying it's "the capital" implies that it's a better culture than other cities that have a MUCH longer brewing history, more award winning world-renowned breweries, with the same exact progressive, artsy and outdoorsy culture as Asheville. It's like giving the finger to Portland, Denver, San Diego, etc. So please stop using phrases like "Beer City USA" and "The Craft Beer Capital" as it's just inappropriate and simply not true. Beer capital of the east coast? Probably. Beer capital of NC, absolutely.

 

Talk about harshing a mellow!  Wow.

But is Beer Advocate right? 

Does Asheville risk ruining "a good thing by thinking we're somehow better than everybody else"? (Another quote from this person.)

Marketing is essential for tourism-reliant economies, and there are great benefits to attracting attention for the local craft brewing scene.  But will craft brew aficianados reject this branding as over-hyped marketing?

Will the culture interpret these labels as proof of a corruption of the craft brew scene?

I'm reminded of the American media truism of how we love to help build people up - only to tear them down later. And that's got me wondering whether the publicity of the Asheville craft brew culture risks realizing a similar fate.