Masterbaiter Dept: Does "Master" mean something?

[Capn Jimbo]

Yup, another thread based on another thread, based on Cowdery...


Trust me, I really don't follow Chuck around the net, as should be obvious from past posts, but today he's turned up twice. This time as the source of an article that was reposted here:
http://adiforums.com/index.php?showtopic=73

A few exerpts...

"Are Micro-Distilleries Abusing the Title of Master Distiller?

We don't know where it started, probably Scotland, this use of the title master distiller. What does it mean?

In the crafts guild tradition of Europe, the modifier "master" before the name of a craft, like "master builder," meant a person who had passed through all of the developmental stages, had become established and known in the field, and was operating at the highest possible level. It meant the person was fully proficient at the craft. Every guild had its own rules but, in general, one became a master by being acknowledged as one by those who already bore the title. It primarily was an emblem of peer recognition...

Which brings us to the people who call themselves master distiller because they bought a still and have started a business they call a distillery, the proprietors of the new micro-distilleries that are popping up all over. Who made them master distillers? What are their credentials? Who taught them? Where have they worked? What have they made?

What have they done other than write a check and read an instruction manual?

No names will be named here. There is a case to be made that if you operate a distillery you are, ergo, a master distiller. But if we accept that, don't we lose something important? Also, there is nothing wrong with the title "distiller," without the modifier...

If you're a master distiller, how come we've never heard of you?"

It's clear to me that the term "master distillers" is all too often prematurely self-applied by so called "craft" or "artisan" distillers like Lost Spirits or Balcones. Who are you going to pick to do your brain surgery - someone just a few years out of school, or a board-certified and respected surgeon with years of experience and successful outcomes under his scalpel? In the same way "craft" and "artisan" are two more marketing words. We understand "small" or "micro", but "craft"? The former indicate size, the latter implies craftsmanship skill which has not yet been earned.

I'm all for micro-distillers, but guilding the lily is part of the problem, not the solution...




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http://adiforums.com/index.php?showtopic=73

[Capn Jimbo]

BTW...

The post linked above drew great attention and several pages of debate and comment by Cowdery and a number of distillers as well. It is a fascinating must read, as this term - "master distiller" has saturated marketing copy.

Great exchange.

[bearmark]

Since Balcones has been catching a lot of flack here, I'll point out that Chip Tate holds the title of "Head Distiller" at Balcones. When I see the term, "Master Distiller," I think "Head Distiller" so Chuck is right... the term "Master Distiller" has lost any significant meaning.

[Capn Jimbo]

Lost its meaning? Hardly.


Perhaps abused or misused its meaning is more accurate, which is actually Cowdery's main point, when he asks:

"But isn't there some expectation that regardless of what else the term connotes, it will continue to have the traditional crafts guild meaning of a person who, after long training as an apprentice and long practice as a journeyman, has earned the right to be called master by mastering every detail of the craft?"

The title "Master Distiller" is still an earned one in Scotland, as "Master Brewer" is here (by the MBAA). Even here the term "master" means something. Like a "Master Plumber", a musician's "Master Class", or urp, even a "Master's Degree". If terms like "master distiller", "small batch", "single barrel", "artisan" and "craft" had lost their meanings they wouldn't be used.

Meaning is essential, and abuse of that meaning is the job of modern lying, er marketing. Attaching the word "master" to "distiller" is VERY meaningful.

The fact that these terms are used is precisely because they DO have clear meaning, one that is abused and misapplied by the marketing boyz. As far as Balcones is concerned, it's appropriate that Tate has not assumed the title, but a Duck Duck Go search returned hundreds of sources that referred to Tate as "Master Distiller" to give him a status that he has not yet earned. I doubt he's complaining.

"Head distiller" is not "Master distiller", as you will find both at some large distilleries. The head guy is seen as more of a manager, while the "master" is seen as the artist (or "composer" as Tate self-describes, at the "junction of art and science").

Ask yourself - which is the more appealing product: that of a "very small distillery" or a "small batch limited release" of an "artisinal craft distillery"? Who would produce the best product - a distiller, a head distiller or a Master Distiller? Every marketer knows the answers. They know that different descriptors have different meanings, and those different meanings have different values in terms of selling the product.

They are selling mastery, delight, romance, uniqueness, craftsmanship, dedication, creativity, elegance and every other bullshit impression you can think of - and all which have meaning and great value in terms of getting you to reach for your wallet.

This is exactly why I'm not simply a common idiot. but rather The Compleat Idiot, lol...