The Perils of Globeerization

This link comes from Foreign Policy In Focus via the Brewers Association email forum. While I don't agree with its calls for more regulation, the article does provide some interesting food for thought with regards to the economic and social effects of the industrialization of brewing.

The world's cup runneth over with living beer traditions. But this vast repository of cultural brewing capital is under attack by global corporations. The top five brewing companies, all of which are American- or European-owned, control 41% of the world market. Perversely, economists and politicians calculate the conquest by industrial breweries as economic growth while the value of small-scale traditional brewing goes uncounted. Much will be lost if this global “beerodiversity” is lost to the forces of corporate-led homogenization.

Read the entire article here.