“‘Craft’ refers to the beer, not the brewery. Pasteurizing a product does not impact the brewery’s status,” specifies General Director Ferraris
The General Assembly of Unionbirrai, the national association of craft microbreweries, has approved a modification to the technical requirements for membership. Now member breweries will be able to pasteurize non-alcoholic beers, provided this does not represent the majority of their production.
Non-alcoholic beers are increasingly in demand among consumers and represent a new frontier for small independent breweries as well. However, their production raises complex technical issues, first and foremost that of pasteurization. A practice useful for ensuring product safety, but one that directly impacts the identity and classification of the beer.
“The production of non-alcoholic beers today increasingly requires specific treatments to ensure their safety – states Vittorio Ferraris, general director of Unionbirrai –. Among these, pasteurization is often essential. For this reason, we have updated the technical criteria for association membership. Those who pasteurize non-alcoholic beers, without making it their predominant production, can continue to be part of Unionbirrai.”
Ferraris clarifies that this is exclusively an internal association decision: “Our decision concerns the association’s bylaws and is in no way intended to replace state laws or clarifications from the Customs Agency.”
CRAFT IS THE BEER, NOT THE BREWERY
Unionbirrai reminds that, under Italian law, there is no such thing as a “craft brewery“. What is regulated is craft beer, understood as a product that is not pasteurized and not microfiltered. For this reason, a beer subjected to pasteurization cannot be defined as craft, nor can it bear the “Independent Craft” mark issued by Unionbirrai.
“We were asked whether pasteurizing a single beer results in the loss of craft status for the entire brewery – Ferraris clarifies – but the answer is no. The ‘craft brewery’ does not exist in regulatory terms. Craft status applies to the individual product. If a beer is pasteurized, that beer is not craft, period. But this has no consequences for any other beers from the same producer that meet the requirements set by law.”
The pasteurization of a single non-alcoholic product does not therefore compromise the craft nature of other beers produced according to legal criteria. Unionbirrai invites producers to label each individual product correctly and transparently, clearly distinguishing what is craft from what is not.
