THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF BREWERIES IN THE WORLD

There are two kinds of people in this world....those who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who don't....but seriously folks, the incongruous thing about the myriad of beers available in this world is that there are really only two kinds of breweries in the world. The first one is the kind that brews and sells the overwhelming majority of all the beer in the world....the commercial brewery. The second one is the craft brewery. In almost everything these two types of breweries do they are polar opposites.
The commercial brewery wants to sell as much beer as possible and there aren't really any limits to the amount of beer that can be brewed or sold. The craft brewery has quite limited brewing capacity and all the beer will sell out fairly quickly.
The commercial brewery wants to appeal to the widest possible demographic and so the beer is made with the least possible taste, colour and very low alcohol content. The craft brewery is brewing for a tiny segment of the population, likely less than 5% of all beer drinkers. Craft brews are very flavourful, meaning malty and/or hoppy. Crafts brews are colourful, appearing coppery or black as well as golden. Higher gravity brews from 5% up to 9% are the norm and light beers are rarely brewed.
The commercial breweries cut costs on ingredients whenever and wherever they can and using cheap cereal grains such as corn and wheat and rice not only saves money but eliminates annoying taste in the beer such as maltiness...heaven forbid! Hops are used sparingly at best. Craft breweries use only top quality brewer's barley such as two row barley. They buy in smaller quantities and pay extra for quality in order to get distinctive flavour in the finished beer. Hops of many varieties are used liberally both for bittering and finishing.
Commercial breweries blend very carefully for absolute consistency. Every time a batch is complete 10% goes into one of the many onsite storage tanks and if the latest batch is not the same as the last batch, blending takes place until it's exactly the same. In a craft brewery each batch is celebrated for it's uniqueness! Consistency isn't expected nor is it the overriding goal.
Big commercial breweries spend most of their brewing budgets on advertising and as little as possible on the beer itself. Craft breweries have little money for advertising and beyond labelling and local promos, they expect their loyal fans to spread the word while the beer speaks for itself and that's where the money is mostly spent.
The difference between commercial breweries and craft breweries is that commercial breweries compete with each other to see who can make the most money for their shareholders whereas craft brewers compete to see who can make the best beer.....quite a different thing.
The commercial brewery is a giant, industrial, multinational corporation that brews in gigantic batches for mass market distribution. The craft brewery is usually a local, small company brewing in tiny batches for distribution to local restaurants and pubs in casks and often for consumption on the premises on tap.
When we drink beer brewed by a giant commercial brewery, we are talking mostly about light bodied, fizzy, yellow lager that is sold the world over.
When we drink beer brewed by a craft brewery, we are usually drinking ales and we could be talking about beer that is brewed in a style of times gone by, or in the style of a small distant region or we could be talking about beer brewed in a new style that the brewer has created for the sake of increased variety.
So all this does beg the question doesn't it? Why do the big guys have 95% of the world's market share when craft breweries go to all this trouble to make great beer. Well, I guess that most people don't know much about beer, don't like it that much, but are thirsty and want to get a bit drunk. But for those of us that know something about beer, like it a lot and still want to get a bit drunk, we'll take craft brewed beer every time!

THE BEST BREWERY IN THE WORLD

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Reasons To Drink Better Beer
1. Nothing is simple in this world and nothing is what it seems. Therefore I offer an ordinary reason as a first one. Better beer tastes better.
2. Better beer is green.....well not literally and not really but it's fashionable so it gets second place

Vancouver, a couple of decades ago, was a largely undiscovered green spot on the Pacific Rim that, as I recall, didn't have much interest in craft brewing.....there has been a minor revolution of sorts....at least a fashion trend towards better beer..... in some small circles that is like CAMRA for example.
I was doing some research last night that involved hanging out at the best brewery in the world. Nice work if you can get it you might say. And I'd agree with you. It was Cask Night at Dix Barbeque and Brewery and our good friend James Walton from Storm Brewing threw a great curve ball to the batters taking strikes at Canada's favourite pastime...namely drinking beer. James provided a fresh cask of apple cider. Made from Saltspring Island apples grown in a hundred year old orchard James pressed the apples in a press he made himself.....now that's craft brewing. As far away from real ale as Budweiser is, the Saltspring Island Cider was just as distant from big company cider such as Growers. Dry, slightly cloudy, very appley in the nose and on the tongue, not too fizzy and cool from the cask with a surprisingly long finish and going down quickly at $5.75 for the 20oz pint this was an ultra rare oportunity to drink locally made cider by one of Vancouvers best and most dedicated craft brewers.
But what's this "best brewery in the world" business all about anyway. Well dear reader, I don't make this statement lightly, I've done extensive research over many years with funding from several sources (I've drunk a lot of beer and many people have bought me pints). So here's a dissertation on the subject.
Dix only has craft brewed beer on tap. Yes, if you want a bottle of Bud or Canadian it's in the fridge. But the yellow beer drinkers usually choose Red Truck Lager, a craft brewed version of the worlds best selling type of lager. So let's just say that if you love yellow lager Dix has an excellent version. And like big company yellow lager, it doesn't have much taste so it's great for those aren't crazy about the taste of beer but are thirsty and/or want to get a shine on.
So is that why Dix is the best brewery in the world?...uh no. Is it the Red Truck Ale? Is it the Game Day Pilsner? Is it the Imperial Stout Is it the ESB? Or maybe it's the food..... Is it the Southern Pride Smoker that produces the beef ribs?....uh no...not all this great stuff.... is it the great staff or the period room or the north Yaletown location?...no not this good stuff either.......... Its the IPA....Derrick makes killer IPA.