For Discussion: If Macrobrewers are the Enemy, then why do Craft Brewers Copy Them?

There has been a lot of talk back and forth about those pesky macro-brewers pushing in on the turf of the craft brewers, and jumping on trends craft brewers have created. But, interestingly, there have been a few moves by the big guys that have actually started trends in beer making and beer drinking that the crafts jumped right on and followed.

The best example that I can think of is a style that has been around for a while: the Belgian White Ale or Belgian Wit. This has been made for years outside of the US, such as Blanche du Bruxelles by Brasserie Lefebvre (since 1983) and St Bernardus' Blanche. Hoegaarden's flagship is this style, which they claim was developed in 1445. These have managed to use wheat as an adjunct ingredient and perfected into the normally unfiltered, light and fluffy, strong yeast influenced flavor it has become.

Such crafts as Ommegang and Allagash have some pretty good versions of this. The White Rascal from Avery Brewing I enjoyed just last night had all the characteristics of the good ones, as many other crafts that also make one.

But can't we thank their popularity to Coors and Budweiser for their own versions, Blue Moon and Shock Top, which blew the lid off that style in America? If this is not the case then why does my local microbrewpub insist on an orange in mine when they are serving one of their own?

Is this just the craft brewers saying yes, those exist, but I can do it a lot better? here.
Or should they be thanking the macros for introducing these styles? Or, on the other hand, have these American breweries introduced these styles based on success in Belgium, ignoring Blue Moon here? Then explain why every micro everywhere has their own version of it, see list.

What are your thoughts? Can you think of any other styles that the Macro-brewers have made famous in America that craft brewers should recognize? 

Craft Beer Monday Review: 4 Hands Contact High

In my quest for more cans for my collection I crafted up another Six-Pack from Binny's, consisting of 5 cans and one bottle. I got lucky with these, with only one being bad, enough to pour out even, called Old Fashioned Shandy from Leinenkugel's which tasted like a Summer Shandy but with nuts and maple sugar in there. Wow, a really bad tasting combination! 

But enough about that, let's talk about something good! Contact High from 4 Hands Brewing in St Louis. Maybe its because our summer was so cool and wet I really didn't get to enjoy the beers a hot summer usually provided for me. Besides only small amounts of Oberons, Gumballheads and SA Summer Ales I really was missing out, and I totally did not even see this one at all. Maybe it didn't matter, since some talk from some St Louis folks says they didnt see it on the Chicgao area shelves until august anyway. This is so much unlike the other summer beers around here I mentioned, since we often see Oberon early and often just about everywhere, and if not for the new Half Quart variety we might not have seen hardly any at all.

Wheaty and yeasty, but with a hint of orange, this one really does remind me of an Oberon, but it is a little lighter in color and unlike Bells products, it is filtered. But it has more of a hop quick to it than those others mentioned, which really balances it out well. Crisp finish but also a thrist quencher this one does the trick.

In this day and age when the shandies are being thrown at us from everywhere, and not only Leinies.We are seeing Radlers in grapefruit flavors from Warsteiner and Stiegl and Fosters and American beer makers which I try to be fair with with but they are just alcoholic juice boxes as far as I am concerned. So when I read near the bottom of the can "made with orange zest" I was a little apprehensive, thinking it might follow the radler/shandy path, but it did not. It was a winner and a really good beer after all. 

Poured from the can into a Pint Glass, rather cold.
CBC Rating: 5.
ABV%:         5.