The Thirsty Traveler: Belgian Beers

Walker · Mar 29, 2006

I was thumbing through the TiVo last night to see if there was anything worth watching in its bowels. I came across the episode of The Thirsty Traveler that focused on Belgian Beers.

My first thought was, "A 30 minute show about belgian beers, and at least 15 minutes of it will be taken up by commercials and some cuisine/cooking stuff?! He must be focusing on only one type of beer, perhaps Lambic."

I was wrong. He raced through all of Belgium, covering Trappist ales, Lambics, Wits, etc, etc. It was all a blur, and nothing of great substance really said about any one kind of beer.

In keeping with the theme of scantly mentioning something, but not discussing it at all, they went to a commercial break near the end of the show with the following cliff-hanger line:

"When we come back, I'll be competing in the World Draught Master competition with bartenders from all over the world."

When they came back from the commercial, only said "The World Draught Master title is a respected award for bartenders from all over the world and draws huge crowds every year."

Then they showed camera shots of people in a big room and lots of beer related stuff.

Then they cut away wrapped the show up. They didn't even say what the competition WAS! WTF?

I was initially intrigued by this show and have watched several episodes, but I'm finding it now to be a steaming pile of dung.

-walker

Lou · Mar 29, 2006

Imperial Walker said:
I was thumbing through the TiVo last night to see if there was anything worth watching in its bowels. I came across the episode of The Thirsty Traveler that focused on Belgian Beers.

My first thought was, "A 30 minute show about belgian beers, and at least 15 minutes of it will be taken up by commercials and some cuisine/cooking stuff?! He must be focusing on only one type of beer, perhaps Lambic."

I was wrong. He raced through all of Belgium, covering Trappist ales, Lambics, Wits, etc, etc. It was all a blur, and nothing of great substance really said about any one kind of beer.

In keeping with the theme of scantly mentioning something, but not discussing it at all, they went to a commercial break near the end of the show with the following cliff-hanger line:

"When we come back, I'll be competing in the World Draught Master competition with bartenders from all over the world."

When they came back from the commercial, only said "The World Draught Master title is a respected award for bartenders from all over the world and draws huge crowds every year."

Then they showed camera shots of people in a big room and lots of beer related stuff.

Then they cut away wrapped the show up. They didn't even say what the competition WAS! WTF?

I was initially intrigued by this show and have watched several episodes, but I'm finding it now to be a steaming pile of dung.

-walker

never seen it, but the whole thing sounds like a big f'in tease...

Walker · Mar 29, 2006

Lou said:
never seen it, but the whole thing sounds like a big f'in tease...

yeah... I don't understand how they decide what to make an episode about.

30 minutes to cover the Disneyland of Beer was DEFINATELY not enough. 30 minutes might have been find for Trappist alone or Lambic alone, but not ALL of freekin Belgium!

They had a whole show dedicated to irish stout, which was fine, but a 30 minute show about Belgian beer is like trying to have a 30 minute show about European wine.

These same masterminds also pumped out a 30 minute show about "Alaskan Beers", which could have been covered in less than 10 minutes since they are just imperial strength beers and nothing more/less.

-walker

Cheesefood · Mar 29, 2006

Imperial Walker said:
I was initially intrigued by this show and have watched several episodes, but I'm finding it now to be a steaming pile of dung.

-walker

That's it! We need to make a REAL show about beer. Now, I have a bachelor's degree in Audio/Video production with a specialization in non-linear digital editing (not that I'm doing a damn thing with the degree), a good digital video camera, some editing software and a passport. I need one or two more camera operators, a sound guy, a lighting guy and a host. We travel to Europe and create a series of video podcasts based on each different region we visit. The Podcasts are 5-10 minute teasers of the end video where we get in depth with some real brewers, like the Chimnay monks and Bro. Theo, the Guiness people, Heinecken (because I'm not touring Europe without a stop in Amsterdam), some French Beer D'Surrender, maybe a DagoBrau, a Kolsch tavern (and an Alt house), then stop by Russia for some Imperials, India for an IPA, etc. etc.

Who's with me? Who's a venture capitalist willing to finance this operation?

Walker · Mar 29, 2006

I'd love to be involved, but I'll file this away under "What I Will Do When I Win The Lottery".

Oddly enough, I don't even play the lottery, so the chance of me actually pulling anything out of that file is zero.

-walker

Dude · Mar 29, 2006

Imperial Walker said:
I was initially intrigued by this show and have watched several episodes, but I'm finding it now to be a steaming pile of dung.

Tell us how you really feel about the show!

Imperial Walker said:
These same masterminds also pumped out a 30 minute show about "Alaskan Beers", which could have been covered in less than 10 minutes since they are just imperial strength beers and nothing more/less.

-walker

To each his own...I didn't get that from that episode at all. Half the show was about the smoked porter. Nothing imperial about it.

I'f I'm not mistaken the other half of the show (or thereabouts) was eating dinner at the brewmasters house.

Anyway, I have all the episodes on DVDs saved from Tivo. I don't watch them much anymore but I thought it was a great example of traveling and finding information about the world's popular beers. no mind blowing info but fun.

The only gripe I have about the show is the host. He annoys the living hell out of me. I used to have a room-mate that could have been his twin (in looks AND personality) so he's a bit obnoxious for me to stand....but......

Walker · Mar 29, 2006

Dude said:
Anyway, I have all the episodes on DVDs saved from Tivo. I don't watch them much anymore but I thought it was a great example of traveling and finding information about the world's popular beers. no mind blowing info but fun.

Yeah, I guess so. Maybe I just expected too much from the show or know enough about beer already that they aren't really able to teach me anything in a half hour. (I have found a few NON-beer episodes to be interesting, FWIW.)

edit: I'm not implying that I am a beer expert, but just that I know enough about beer to not find any useful nuggets of info in such a short show about it.

Dude said:
The only gripe I have about the show is the host. He annoys the living hell out of me. I used to have a room-mate that could have been his twin (in looks AND personality) so he's a bit obnoxious for me to stand....but......

Yeah, he's a little annoying. He's much better on Iron Chef America where he's relatively quiet most of the time....

-walker

Glibbidy · Mar 29, 2006

Imperial Walker said:
My first thought was, "A 30 minute show about belgian beers, and at least 15 minutes of it will be taken up by commercials and some cuisine/cooking stuff?! He must be focusing on only one type of beer, perhaps Lambic."
-walker

ROTFL! If there are over 3,000 belgian beers available that is an average of 100 per minute, and thats without commercials. Talk about a blur! :drunk:

todd_k · Mar 29, 2006

Is that on the Food Network?

Walker · Mar 29, 2006

Nope. It's on Fine Living.

Caplan · Mar 29, 2006

Cheesefood said:
That's it! We need to make a REAL show about beer. Who's with me?

Count me in! (Only if we can do England though and maybe Scotland - NO Wales though!

)

Cheesefood said:
Who's a venture capitalist willing to finance this operation?

Caplan puts his hands firmly behind his back and whistles quietly to himself until the question goes away.....

Anyway back to the Original Post, I haven't seen the show in question so i'm talking sh*te (as normal) but surely shows like that are primarily just 'Entertainment' not 'Educational'?

Those viewers who are actually listening and watching who don't know much about foreign beers may get an insight to trying a few ideas that maybe they'd walk past in the Store normally to get to the 'Commercial Swill'?
I can't believe a guy wandering around the World sampling beer would be 'edge of the chair' viewing anyway (unless someone offers me the job)

Chairman Cheyco · Mar 29, 2006

Cheesefood said:
That's it! We need to make a REAL show about beer.

The Chairman steadies his laser-pointer:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=6943

The Thirsty Traveler: Belgian Beers

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