"The taste is flat out lemonade ... maybe an eyedropper of booze," writes the user Sammer on ratebeer.com's page for Leinenkugel Summer Shandy. On Beer Advocate, where the brand has a 72 rating ("okay"), the user Alphagnome writes, "Honestly, it's not good ... BUT it's refreshing."

    Perhaps that's all that matters for a seasonal drink; Leinenkugel's lemonade-flavored beer had enormous success this summer. The second-best selling and fastest-growing craft beer, it outsold all of Leinenkugel's other beers combined in the time it was on shelves. Shipments were up 24% over last year. And it has helped the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company go from producing 60,000 barrels a year when the Miller Brewing Company bought it in 1988 to now nearly 1 million.

    More significantly, Leinenkugel's success led to almost double-digit volume growth in the third quarter for Tenth and Blake, the craft and imports division MillerCoors set up in 2010. Compare that to the 4% growth in net revenue per barrel for MillerCoors overall in the same quarter, and you start to think craft beer, long thought an impending threat to the big brewers, may be the solution to big beer's bigger foe: wine and spirits, which have been eating into beer sales for a decade.

    MillerCoors was early into the craft beer craze with the creation of Blue Moon, the internally grown brand it launched in 1995. And Miller bought Leinenkugel back in 1988. But Tenth and Blake, which houses both Leinenkugel and Blue Moon -- in addition to imports like Peroni and Pilsner Urquell -- is something of an anomaly among mega-brewers; none of MillerCoors's peers have a separate craft division. Maybe they should, considering Leinenkugel has given its big daddy such a boost: Summer Shandy, the "highest velocity" of the top 15 craft brands this summer, was second in sales only to Blue Moon Belgian White, another MillerCoors property.

    Why did Summer Shandy do so well this year? Jake Leinenkugel, CEO, attributes it to beefed-up marketing. Leinenkugel did its first national television ads for Shandy in 2012 and this summer did an ad campaign tailored to baseball and other programs "that we thought millennials and beer drinkers were attuned to, like The Walking Dead," he says. Leinenkugel says there's no question that the efforts helped raised new awareness for the brand. "I guess I always thought, it's a Midwest beer, it's hard to pronounce, people don't know who we are," he says. "But that's changing."

    The company won't say what it spent on the new marketing push; Leinenkugel says it was a significant figure for his company, though "a lot less than what a major brewer would throw behind a new brand."

    In fact, Leinenkugel's full line of Shandy beers represented 9.7% of the 2013 growth in the entire craft market through September. Another big gainer was Blue Moon Belgian White, also owned by Tenth and Blake, with 7.2%, the fourth-biggest contributor to the category's growth. Shock Top Seasonal, owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), was third with 7.5%.

    Indeed, AB InBev isn't about to miss out on the craft beer boom, either. In contrast to Leinenkugel, Shock Top is a "homegrown" craft, hatched inside Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis (like MillerCoors's Blue Moon). The company takes pains to give Shock Top a craft sensibility, though sticklers would say that its corporate pedigree disqualifies it as a true craft beer. AB InBev's only other craft interest has been Goose Island, which it bought in 2011 and mostly left alone -- which AB's CMO Paul Chibe says has been key to the brand's success. "We want to have them maintain their identity, culture, and creativity. And the spirit of authenticity that comes from them being in Chicago where they were born." Asked if it might make sense for AB to have an in-house craft division to house Goose and other crafts it might acquire down the line -- along the lines of MillerCoors's Tenth and Blake -- AB's Chibe has some fighting words: "99.999 times out of a hundred, MillerCoors is copying what we're doing, not the other way around," he says. "I don't want a division sitting here in St. Louis like Tenth and Blake is sitting in Chicago. It makes no sense having a craft business that becomes just like us."

    “喝起来显然像柠檬水，或许也有一丁点酒味吧，”用户萨默尔在啤酒品评网(ratebeer.com)的页面这样评价雷内恩库格尔夏季香蒂啤酒(Leinenkugel Summer Shandy)。这个品牌在酒馆导航网站Beer Advocate获得了72次“不错”评级。用户阿尔法葛努姆写道：“说实话，口感并不算好，但非常清爽。”

    对于一款季节性饮品而言，这样的评价或许就足够了。今年夏天，这款柠檬水味啤酒大获成功，一举成为增速最快，销量位居第二的精酿啤酒。夏季香蒂啤酒的销量超过了同期在售的其他雷内恩库格尔品牌啤酒的总和，出货量较去年同期增长了24%。在它的带动下，雅各•雷内恩库格尔酿酒公司(Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company)的年产量现已飙升至近100万桶。而在1988年，米勒酿酒公司(Miller Brewing Company)收购这家酿酒商时，它的年产量仅为6万桶。

    更加值得关注的是，雷内恩库格尔的成功推动Tenth and Blake公司第三季度的业绩强势增长，销量增速接近两位数。这家专门经营精酿和进口品牌的企业是米勒康胜啤酒公司(MillerCoors)于2010年创立的。鉴于米勒康胜同季整体的每桶净营收仅增长4%，大家或许会开始认为，早就被视为大型啤酒酿造商潜在对手的精酿啤酒或许能够抗击大型啤酒酿造商更大的敌人，即近十年来不断侵蚀啤酒领地的葡萄酒和烈酒。

    米勒康胜啤酒公司早早就开始迎合精酿啤酒风潮——它1995年就推出了自主开发的精酿啤酒品牌“蓝月亮”(Blue Moon)。早在1988年，米勒就收购了雷内恩库格尔。但在大型啤酒酿造商中，除佩罗尼(Peroni)和皮尔森(Pilsner Urquell )等进口品牌之外，还拥有雷内恩库格尔和蓝月亮的Tenth and Blake公司堪称异数；米勒康胜的业内同行都没有一家独立的精酿啤酒分支。鉴于雷内恩库格尔为母公司的业绩做出了如此巨大的贡献，这些大型酿酒商或许应该认真考虑进军精酿啤酒市场了。今夏最畅销的15大精酿品牌中，夏季香蒂啤酒创造了“最快速度”，销量仅次于米勒康胜旗下另一个精酿品牌——“蓝月亮比利时白”(Blue Moon Belgian White)。

    夏季香蒂啤酒为什么能够在今年交出一份如此出彩的答卷呢？雷内恩库格尔酿酒公司CEO杰克•雷内恩库格尔认为，强有力的营销手段居功至伟。2012年，雷内恩库格尔酿酒公司首次为夏季香蒂啤酒推出全国性电视广告，并在今年夏天发动了一波为棒球和其他电视节目量身定做的广告攻势。他说：“我们特意选择了一些千禧一代和啤酒爱好者喜欢观看的节目，比如科幻惊悚剧《行尸走肉》(The Walking Dead)。”雷内恩库格尔声称，这些努力无疑提高了这个品牌的知名度。“我猜很多人过去总是认为它是一款来自中西部的啤酒，这个词也不太容易拼读，人们不知道我们是谁，”他说。“但这种情况正在发生改变。”

    这家公司不愿透露这款产品的具体营销费用；雷内恩库格尔表示，对于他的公司而言，这笔营销开支的确很大，但要“比大型酿酒商为推广一个全新品牌所花费的资金少得多。”

    事实上，2013年1至9月份整个精酿啤酒市场的增幅中，雷内恩库格尔公司旗下的香蒂啤酒系列占据了9.7%的份额。另一个大赢家是蓝月亮比利时白，这个同属Tenth and Blake公司的品牌占据了7.2%，是精酿啤酒市场增幅的第四大贡献者。百威英博公司（Anheuser-Busch InBev）旗下的Shock Top Seasonal以7.5%的份额位列第三位。

    事实上，百威英博也不打算错过这顿丰盛的精酿啤酒盛宴。Shock Top与雷内恩库格尔不同，是百威英博在圣路易斯“自主孵化”的精酿品牌（就像米勒康胜公司的蓝月亮一样）。这家酿酒业巨头煞费苦心地给予Shock Top一种精酿啤酒特有的感觉，但喜欢较真的人会说，百威英博的公司谱系决定了它酿制不出口味纯正的精酿啤酒。百威英博的另一个精酿品牌是它2011年收购的“鹅岛啤酒”( Goose Island)。这家公司基本上没有干涉这个品牌的发展——百威英博首席营销官保罗•池比认为，这恰恰是这个品牌获得成功的关键因素。“我们希望鹅岛啤酒保持自身的特性、文化和创造力。口味的真实性源于一个事实——鹅岛啤酒依然在它的诞生地芝加哥生产酿制。”那么，对于百威英博而言，在集团内部建立一个精酿啤酒分支以管理鹅岛和它可能收购的其他同类品牌（就像米勒康胜公司旗下的Tenth and Blake分支），是不是一种更合理的运营方式？在回答这个问题时，池比使用了一些容易引起争端的言辞：“米勒康胜将来效仿我们的可能性是99.999%，而不是相反，”他说。“Tenth and Blake正在插手圣路易斯的酿酒业务，我可不想这么做。我绝对不会成立一个部门对芝加哥的运营事务指手画脚。让精酿啤酒业务变得跟我们一样没有任何意义。”

    To be sure, Tenth and Blake leaves its craft brands alone, too: Leinenkugel still brews in Chippewa Falls, Wis., where it has for over 100 years. If anything, Tenth and Blake is more like a holding company. And Lauren Torres, analyst with HSBC, cautions: "I don't think people look at Tenth and Blake and say that because MillerCoors has an established category to focus on craft, they're doing more than others in the space."

    Even Heineken (HEINY), which sources say does not currently want to get anywhere near the craft scene, is not exactly completely uninterested in the category. "They're not playing in it, but they have brands like Newcastle that are not craft per se, but in certain countries do look nichey to consumers," says Torres.

    That may be why the "craft" label itself is problematic. Take Heineken for example: It hasn't created any craft brand from within, it hasn't acquired any craft brands, and U.S. CEO Dolf van den Brink says, "Heineken USA is focused on building upscale, badge, import brands ... And we can do this more efficiently with fewer SKUs." But it is certainly innovating in response to the successes of rival brands. Heineken USA will soon come out with Dos-A-Rita, a line extension on Dos Equis lager that has agave nectar. The product comes in the wake of AB InBev's massive success with Bud Light Lime-A-Rita and Straw-Ber-Rita. Heineken also sells a shandy-like Radler -- part lemonade, part beer, and higher alcohol content than Leinenkugel Summer Shandy, which is lemon-flavored beer -- that currently only sells in Europe but will likely come to the States soon. While these are not necessarily "crafts," they are innovations that seek to offer consumers something new and different. Thus, the distinction between unique new beers from the big guys and small-brewed, independent beers -- perceived as true crafts -- may be meaningless.

    Chibe, too, speaking from his perch as marketer in chief of the largest beer company in the world, says the craft craze may rest on meaningless distinctions about ownership: "It's not about the size, but the brewing tradition and the workers. Just because it's a small brand doesn't mean it will be any good. But just because it's a big brand doesn't mean it will be bad."

    In Europe, which has also experienced the rise of craft beer, the definition may be even less relevant. In Latin America, the longtime wisdom was that Brazilians drink Brazilian beers (think Brahma and Skol, both owned by AB InBev) and Mexicans drink Mexican beers (like Corona, now also owned by AB InBev). But that has changed. "I was in Brazil two weeks ago and I was shocked," says analyst Torres. "I asked people what they drink, and a couple years ago they would say Skol and Brahma, but now some people said Heineken or brands I'd never seen before, meaning local craft beers. So craft has reached Brazil too." In other words, in the beer world, brand loyalty is mostly a thing of the past, save for the "Joe Six Pack," as the industry calls it, who indeed still exists, still matters, and still buys a big case of Miller Light or Bud Light for the game.

    Even so, the perception among more and more drinkers, either fairly or unfairly, is that small and independent means better quality. As Tenth and Blake beer merchant Gregory Weinberg puts it, "It's the same as with cheese, chocolate, and whiskey -- there's this notion that being small-batch, not owned by a big company, means automatic quality." And that association is having an impact. Whether they start a craft division or not, all the big brewers are taking note of craft beer; they can't afford to ignore it because, while crafts only make up single-digit percentage volume of the U.S. beer market, they have higher pricing and they are growing, while staple brands are mostly flat. Just last month, Duvel Moortgat Brewery of Belgium, which produces Duvel, announced it would buy Boulevard Brewing Company, the Kansas City-based, 12th-largest craft brewer in the U.S.

    So what's next for MillerCoors's Tenth and Blake after the summer success of Leinenkugel? One option would be to innovate from within, creating a new craft beer internally. Tom Cardella, CEO of Tenth and Blake, acknowledges it's a possibility. "You know, we've thought about that a lot," he tells Fortune. But he says there's still so much potential with Blue Moon and Leinenkugel that they may not need to. Whether they do or don't, expect the rest of the industry to keep getting more crafty.

    可以肯定的是，Tenth and Blake公司也没有干涉旗下精酿啤酒品牌的自主发展：一如此前的100多年，雷内恩库格尔啤酒的酿造地依然是威斯康星州奇佩瓦瀑布市。事实上，Tenth and Blake更像是一家控股公司。汇丰银行(HSBC)分析师劳伦•托雷斯警告说：“在我看来，人们不会因为米勒康胜建立了一家专门经营精酿啤酒业务的Tenth and Blake公司，就想当然地认为他们在这一市场空间采取了比其他公司更多的措施。”

    就连喜力啤酒公司(Heineken)也并不是对这个啤酒类别感兴趣，尽管有消息称它目前不想染指精酿啤酒领域。托雷斯说：“他们目前还没有进入，但喜力拥有纽卡斯尔(Newcastle )这种本身不属于精酿范畴、但在某些国家和地区确实拥有不少拥趸的品牌。”

    这或许正是“精酿”这个标签自身存在问题的原因所在。就以喜力啤酒为例：这家公司并没有自主研发、也没有收购任何精酿品牌，喜力美国公司CEO多尔夫•凌科说：“我们专注于打造高端、标杆性和进口品牌，我们可以用更少的商品类别更有效率地做到这一点。”但面对竞争对手品牌的成功，这家公司肯定也在不断创新。作为含有龙舌兰花蜜的Dos Equis陈贮系列的新品，喜力美国公司很快将推出Dos-A-Rita啤酒，以应对百威英博旗下品牌Bud Light Lime-A-Rita 和Straw-Ber-Rita咄咄逼人的攻势。此外，喜力公司还推出了一个名叫“拉德乐”(Radler)、类似于香蒂啤酒的品牌。它既带有柠檬味，又不失啤酒的口感，而且比柠檬味的雷内恩库格尔夏季香蒂啤酒包含更高的酒精含量。这种啤酒目前只在欧洲销售，但预计过不了多久就将进入美国市场。虽然这些产品并不一定是“精酿啤酒”，但它们都是旨在为消费者提供独特新口感的创新成果。所以说，刻意区分“老大哥”和小型独立酿酒商（后者往往被视为真正的酿酒行家）分别推出的独特新品，或许毫无意义。

    身为全球最大啤酒公司的营销负责人，保罗•池比也认为，精酿啤酒热潮或许依托于毫无意义地区分酿造商这一现象：“啤酒的优劣与酿制者的规模没有关系，而是取决于酿造传统和工人。仅仅因为它是一个小品牌，并不意味着它的口感就好。同样，仅仅因为它是一个大品牌，也并不意味着它的口感就差。”

    欧洲同样受到了精酿啤酒的热潮冲击，但在欧洲给啤酒分门别类或许更加没有意义。在拉丁美洲，传统智慧认为，巴西人喝巴西啤酒，比如百威英博拥有的梵天（Brahma）和斯科尔(Skol)；墨西哥人喝墨西哥啤酒，比如现在也被百威英博收入囊中的科罗娜(Corona)。但这种状况已经改变。“两个星期前，我去了一趟巴西，所见所闻让我备受震动，”分析师托雷斯说。“我喜欢问人们喝什么啤酒。几年前，他们会提到梵天和斯科尔，但现在，一些人说他们喝喜力，或者其他我从未听说过的品牌，也就是当地的精酿啤酒。所以说，精酿啤酒也来到了巴西。”换句话说，在啤酒世界，品牌忠诚基本上已成为过去式，除了业内人士所称的“买半打啤酒的乔”(Joe Six Pack)之外——这类消费者依然存在，依然重要，他们依然会购买一大箱“米勒淡啤”(Miller Light)或“百威淡啤”(Bud Light)较量一番酒量。

    即便如此，无论公平与否，越来越多的饮酒者认为，小型独立酿酒商意味着更好的质量。正如经销Tenth and Blake啤酒的商人格雷戈里•温伯格所言：“这一点同样适用于奶酪、巧克力和威士忌市场。一种颇为流行的观念是，小批量、或者不归某家大公司所有的制造商就是好品质的代名词。”而这种思维方式正在产生影响。无论是否建立了一个专营精酿啤酒的分支，所有大型啤酒制造商都在密切关注这一市场；它们无法承受忽视这个市场的后果，原因在于，尽管精酿啤酒在美国啤酒市场的占有率依然不到十分之一，但这种啤酒的售价更高，而且增势迅猛，而大多数主流品牌却缺乏增长动力。就在上个月，以生产督威啤酒著称的比利时督威摩盖特酿酒公司(Duvel Moortgat Brewery)发布公告称，它将收购大道酿酒公司(Boulevard Brewing Company)。后者位于堪萨斯城，是美国第12大精酿啤酒酿造商。

    那么，在今年夏天收获雷内恩库格尔啤酒创造的累累果实之后，米勒康胜麾下的Tenth and Blake公司接下来有什么打算呢？一个选择是自主创新，在公司内部研发一款全新的精酿啤酒。公司CEO汤姆•卡尔代拉承认存在这种可能性。“你知道，我们已经针对精酿啤酒业务进行了非常充分的考量，”他告诉《财富》(Fortune)。但他同时也表示，蓝月亮和雷内恩库格尔依然拥有巨大的市场潜能，所以他们或许不需要这样做。无论他们做或不做，其他的啤酒酿造商肯定将变得更加“精酿化”。(财富中文网)

    译者：叶寒