10 Craft Beers That Aren't

2. Pyramid Brewery
Why it's not craft: "Imported adjunct beer sales exceed domestic production"

This has nothing to do with Pyramid's apricot beer, its brewpub in Seattle, its restaurants or its bland labeling that make it look oddly like Costco (COST) house brew.

This has everything to do with who's owned it and, more importantly, who owns it now. Pyramid's been on a wild ride since 2008, when it was sold to Magic Hat Brewing of Burlington, Vt., for roughly $25 million. Just two years later, investment firm KPS Capital Partners and its North American Breweries snatched up Pyramid and Magic Hat and included them in its stable alongside beers including Genesee Cream Ale, Dundee Honey Brown, Canada's Labatt Blue and Costa Rica's Imperial.

The Brewers Association likely had the latter two in mind when it slapped Pyramid's parent company for selling too many imports, but Pyramid's current situation is even more globally complex. In October, KPS Capital sold NAB to Cerveceria Costa Rica, a subsidiary of Florida Ice & Farm, for $388 million. That makes Pyramid and its smaller holding -- Portland, Ore.-based MacTarnahan's -- an even more minute portion of a large international conglomerate.

Any way you approach it, it's tough to call that "craft."

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