Keith you and I have been around for a while, so we know why crystal malt is overused in craft and home brewing; namely, the lack of quality extract and base malts in the early days of the movement (i.e., the amateur brewers of yesteryear are the craft brewers of today). Back in the bad old days, crystal malt was used to doctor less than fresh extract and to add flavor to the major base malt that was available to amateur brewers; namely, American 2-row, which, in my humble opinion, is the Melba toast/tofu of the 2-row world. Somehow, that work around morphed into standard practice after the base malts that amateur and early craft brewers were attempting to simulate became available.