规模庞大的跨国企业大多占有无尽的优势。但有些时候，大公司也得学习如何从小处着手。面对精酿啤酒的异军突起，这一点对于啤酒酿造大公司显得空前真切。

    正如丹尼斯·威尔森上个月在财富网站发表的文章《啤酒酿造巨头披上精酿啤酒外衣》（Big Beer dresses up in craft brewers' clothing）所述，2011年精酿啤酒销量增长13%，而同期全美啤酒总销量缩减了大约1.3%。尽管精酿仅仅只是整个市场中很小的一块，但大型啤酒酿造公司也不能无视这些增长数据。

    日前，《财富》杂志（Fortune ）采访了SABMiller执行董事长格雷厄姆·麦凯，探讨这家全球第二大啤酒酿造商如何利用大众对精酿啤酒的兴趣发财。精酿啤酒是小型独立酿造商引领的一项运动——“小型”和“独立”都是SABMiller所不具备的特性。为了在精酿啤酒市场中获得一杯羹，MillerCoors（SABMiller和Molson Coors的合资企业）于2010年成立了一块独立的业务，名为Tenth and Blake。这块业务负责蓝月亮（Blue Moon）、Leinenkugels等品牌的运作，并在2012年2月收购了Crispin Cider。以下是经编辑的采访摘要。

    《财富》杂志：您如何看待精酿啤酒的全球前景？美国正在发生的情况是美国特有的，还是更为普遍性的现象？

    格雷厄姆·麦凯：在某种意义上，这是美国特有的。美国市场已经经历了大规模整合，几大品牌占据了主导地位。它的发展趋势是减少调味，提高可重复性，降低饱感，清爽型口味日渐流行。走上这一发展道路的不只是美国，但美国在这条路上走得最远。

    是什么因素推动了这一趋势？

    美国对于可重复性的不懈追求。显然，每个现代社会都有点这样。另外，消除苦涩和浓烈口味也是啤酒行业数十年、乃至数代人的核心要务。如果回到三、四十年前，看看那些如今依然存在的大品牌，如今这些品牌在美国出售的产品苦味水平为7-9（根据国际苦味单位测量）,三、四十年前的苦味水平在17、18或19的水平。欧洲陈贮啤酒的苦味水平介于20-25。

    然而，消费者回过头来却说：“我们来找点乐子吧，品尝一点不同的东西。”因此，出现了精酿啤酒的增长。但这个趋势只是本地现象，它与市场营销对立，而且有违国际化和大型化的潮流，但它更关注体验，也更了解酿造者。

    There are countless advantages that come with being a massive, multinational enterprise. But sometimes, a big company needs to learn how to act small. Amid the rise of craft beer, this has never been more the case for big brewers.

    As Denis Wilson noted on Fortune.com last month in "Big Beer dresses up in craft brewers' clothing," craft beer saw a 13% increase in volume in 2011, while overall U.S. beer sales were down by about 1.3% by volume during that same period. Despite the fact that craft is a very small segment of the market, large beer companies cannot ignore these growth figures.

    Fortune recently spoke with Graham Mackay, the executive chairman of SABMiller, about how the world's second-largest brewer is trying to capitalize on the interest in craft beer. It's a movement marked by small, independent brewers -- two things that SABMiller is not. To grab a portion of the craft-drinking segment, MillerCoors (a joint venture of SABMiller and Molson Coors (TAP)) launched a separate division in 2010 called Tenth and Blake. This operation oversees brands like Blue Moon, Leinenkugels, and it acquired Crispin cider in February 2012. The following are edited excerpts of our conversation.

    Fortune: What's your global outlook on craft? Is what's happening in the U.S. specific to this country or broader?

    Graham Mackay:It's U.S.-specific in the sense that the U.S. had gone in a particular direction of large-scale consolidation, dominance by a relatively small number of big brands, and trends toward less and less flavor, more repeatability, less satiating, and the rise of light beers. The U.S. was not the only one moving in that direction, but it moved furthest in that direction.

    What drove that?

    The endless quest in the U.S. for repeatability. Obviously, every modern society has a bit of that. Also, the elimination of harsh and intense flavors has been the central sweet spot of the beer industry for decades, if not generations. If you go back 30 or 40 years and look at the formulations for the big brands that still exist, their bitterness levels in the U.S. are 7 to 9 [measured in International Bitterness Units].  Those brands, 30 or 40 year ago, were up at the 17, 18, 19 kind of level. European lagers are somewhere between 20 and 25.

    The consumer has gone back to saying, "Let's get a bit of interest, let's have a bit of difference." So, there's been the growth of craft beer. But it's also local, anti-marketing, anti-global, anti-big, and more focused on experience and knowing the brewer who produces it.

    你是说反大型化和国际化吗？可是，贵公司既是大公司，也是国际化公司。那么你们如何应对这一趋势的？

    我们有自己的精酿啤酒品牌。我们也在寻找优质的收购目标，希望能建立合伙关系，吸引一批培育过优质企业的人才。大公司很难培育小品牌。这根本就不可能。大公司很难能一贯如一、坚持不懈地创立一个小品牌。而这正是小企业最擅长的事情。

    您认为精酿啤酒的忠实消费者们会接受这一模式吗？

    精酿啤酒行业内对于我们和所有大型酿酒商都有很大的争议，因为我们就像敌人一样。我们是外人。他们认为，我们偷了他们的概念。我们要说的是：“一切让消费者来决定吧。”如果我们的产品让消费者感觉足够地道，就够了。

    您能谈谈为何单独设立Tenth and Blake部门？为什么这样规划公司架构？

    大多数啤酒都是以感情为诉求点，而不是功能。啤酒没有太多不同。即便一款啤酒是不同的，也有很多啤酒的口味与它很相似。因此，要做的是努力在人们的头脑中建立新的情感联系。为此，需要像一家小公司一样行动。必须用很长的时间培育。建立Tenth and Blake就是为了像一家小公司一样缓慢细致、而且始终如一地推出产品。

    你是否认为在某种程度上，我们将回到过去？更多的整合，更原始的口味？

    我不认为精酿啤酒运动会永远保持当前的增长态势。这不可能。它不经济。太多人就赚不到钱。太多人将退出这项业务。而且，我认为它会变得不那么流行。这种事在某种程度上就是赶潮流。

    大酿造公司的品牌组合将变得更大更丰富，更有层次也更多样化，这也是我们在世界所有地方看到的现象。但不会再回到百威（Budweiser）或下一个百威拥有30%或40%的市场占有率那样的时候了。

    对于精酿啤酒业务，或更具体地说是Tenth and Blake，您怎么看它的前景？

    Tenth and Blake是MillerCoors针对具体问题而设立的，即我们在增长方面落后于这部分市场。我们需要在这个方向上拓展我们的品牌组合。

    在某种意义上，Tenth and Blake是一个销售或营销组织，服务于仍在发展阶段的啤酒品牌。一旦品牌成长到足够大，就可以移入主流品牌。Blue Moon品牌目前仍由Tenth and Blake打理，但有一点几乎不可避免，可能在不远的未来就需要考虑将蓝月亮移入主流品牌，就像其他品牌一样。

    译者：杨智

    Anti-big, anti-international -- you are big and you are international. So how do you play off this trend?

    We have our own craft brands. We also look selectively to acquire, or form partnerships with, or cozy up to people who have incubated good businesses. It's difficult for big companies to incubate small brands. That, at its heart, is the dilemma. To start a small brand in a credible, consistent, sticking-to-it kind of way is hard for big companies. That's what small entrepreneurs do best.

    Do you think that the core craft consumer embraces this model?

    There's a huge debate in the craft world about us, all big brewers, because we're like the enemy. We're the other guys. They think we're stealing their authenticity. What we say is, "Let the consumer decide." If we're authentic enough for the consumer, that's authentic enough for anyone.

    Could you talk about the strategy around why you have this separate Tenth and Blake division? Why did you structure the company this way?

    For most beer, the proposition is emotional. It's not functional. The beer is not that different. And even if the beer is different, there are others that taste much like it. So you're trying to create new emotional associations in people's minds. To do that, you've got to act like a small company. You've got to incubate it for a long time. Tenth and Blake is set up to introduce things slowly and carefully and consistently like a small company.

    Do you think at some point we'll revert back to where we were before? More consolidation, a less sophisticated palate?

    I don't think the craft movement in its current guise will continue to grow indefinitely. I don't think it can. It's not economic. Too many people won't make any money. Too many of them will go out of business. And I think it will become less fashionable. These things are fashion to some extent.

    Brand portfolios of big brewing companies will get bigger, more complex, more stratified, and more differentiated because those are the trends you see everywhere else in the world. But you're not going to go back to where Budweiser (BUD) or the next Budweiser has a 30 share or 40 share.

    What do you see as the future of craft and, more specifically, Tenth and Blake?

    Tenth and Blake is a creation of MillerCoors to solve a specific problem, which is that we under-index in the growth segments. We need to grow our portfolio more in that direction.

    In a sense, what Tenth and Blake represents is a selling or a marketing organization oriented toward beers still in incubation mode. Once the brands become big, they can be handed over to the mainstream. Blue Moon is still handled by Tenth and Blake, but it's almost inevitable that at some stage in the not too distant future, you might contemplate moving Blue Moon out into the mainstream and just treat it as another brand.