"In American craft brewing, for the most part, there's been a 'no secrets' culture-I can tell you all the details, but you're still going to wind up with a different beer," says Joe Stange, executive editor of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine and the Brewing Industry Guide. "At the same time, sharing the techniques and processes that really work well is a habit that lifts all boats-it makes everybody better." When brewers discover some game-changing ingredient or method, they often can't wait for show-and-tell; the innovations spread, and beer improves. With nonalcoholic beer, meanwhile, brewers are on their own.
"Craft beer is ... the anomaly in terms of cooperation," she says. "You don't see one construction company inviting a competing firm's engineers to come 'collaborate' on blueprints." Meanwhile, in craft beer, teamwork-based origin stories abound. "I think of the story of Ken Grossman visiting Jack McAuliffe at New Albion.
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