Other connotations of the word may pose a small obstacle, I agree. If we could simply use the label “independent”, the problem could be solved. But I feel that as a culture, a shortened word with as few syllables as possible pops and has more staying power.

We’ll find something that works! Cheers!

Thank you, Steve! “Nothing Gold Can Stay” has actually popped into my head a lot recently after the announcement of the acquisition. The reference from “The Outsiders” made me smile. At some point, I’ll be sharing a post about the buyout with all the details of my experience. Cheers!

Thanks for the very honest answer Janee. I did think it was a tricky question for you to answer, hence my hesitance to ask, but I certainly wasn’t implying anything untoward!

I think Indie is a very interesting proposal and certainly could be a less contentious term to define than Craft. I think it is still missing something, but I can’t quite put my finger on what either! You are also probably aware, but for the sake of sharing perspective, in the UK the term Indie has some lifestyle connotations (mainly from the music industry) associated with it, which may or may not fit. However, whether that matters, or has travelled across the pond I don’t know.

I’d like to have a term that could be known for both integrity and quality. Making provenance and process the key talking points around quality. Unfortunately independence is not synonymous with integrity which begins to stray towards moral or ethical considerations. Perhaps when we want to champion independence we’re really talking about an alternative (better?) way of doing things, whether that is being more accountable to the community, responsible for the environment or simply throwing out old ideas and innovating to deliver a better product and push the industry forward (or all of the above!). I think legitimate independence requires passion, and above all, an objective, a mission, a valid reason to strive for change, but does Indie as a term encompass this? Maybe.

I’m mainly interested from a spirits perspective on this debate, but the beer revolution does seem to be breaking this ground first!

Thanks, Adomas!

Great questions, Tom! It’s interesting to see how different people interpret my post. There’s a decisiveness in there. I’ve chosen not to directly express all of my opinions at this point. I still work for Devils Backbone. In around a month, I’ll technically be employed by ABI, which I had never hoped for.

I can strongly say that integrity is the most important element in this to me. I don’t relate lack of integrity to a buyout. What happens BECAUSE of a buyout is relative to integrity. I definitely don’t harbor any bad feelings about the choice that our owners made, as it was the right choice for them.

I do feel that small producers can be commercialized without compromising a brand’s integrity or quality. I’m just unsure of if that’s been successfully done yet.

Thanks for your interest in my post and on this topic! Cheers!