Brew Masters on Discovery w/ Sam Calagione

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I am interested in what online sales are going to look like over the 90 days. Any vendors want to share?
 
I enjoyed the show. I like his old truck and the tree house outside the brewery.

I want to try a bottle of the *****'s Brew, but I doubt it got to this area.
 
Watched and it thought it was great. I'm going to try and visit the brewery next time I'm at the beach (Milton is like 10 miles inland from the DE coast)
 
Show was OK imo. There are a ton of different beers out there and there are bound to be many that each person doesn't like. So while I haven't found a DFH beer I really like I don't fault the brewery for that and have a lot of respect (and envy) for them. I like that they brew what they want and don't worry about the haters. The rap was lame though.
 
I cant believe how many people disliked this show, I thought it was well done for what they profiled the show as. Following Sam Calagione in his brewery and his adventure of making "off centered ales for off centered people" It wasn't a going to be a how to brew series. It was about his adventure.

About the truck, he has had that truck for years. He started his company with the truck and still continues to drive it.

The truck was in "Beer Wars" a documentary about the sales side of the beer world. If you haven't seen this movie you need to. It is an eye opener on how the beer world works.

I loved the show and will support "OUR" brewing community with new and innovative people that continue to think outside the box.

RDWHAHB
 
DakotaRules said:
I cant believe how many people disliked this show, I thought it was well done for what they profiled the show as. Following Sam Calagione in his brewery and his adventure of making "off centered ales for off centered people" It wasn't a going to be a how to brew series. It was about his adventure.
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I agree, I liked the show, except for the rap, of course.

I don't think any show will make everyone on here happy. Like I said originally I'm glad it wasn't totally dumbed down. But realistically It's NOT going to be a show that will teach US anything, expect maybe how to think out of the box with our recipe creation, and how to go about finding and working odd ingredients into our recipes. But it's not going to teach homebrewers how to brew, or how to brew better. At the most it's going to teach people who know very little about beer and brewing, what goes into it.

He did a pretty simplified, yet clear job of explaining the mashing process. But we're not going to be learning how to do a step mash or a decoction mash.

We have to face it here, YES most of us find nothing wrong with watching a live stream of someone brewing, or watching you tube videos bubbling carboys, but we're obsessed beer geeks. In order for a tv show (even on cable) to even get to the production phase, it really has to be mainstream, and appeal to the greatest number of folks possible. And a show that would please we hardcore folks is going to be plain boring and/or over the heads of most folks.

I think this show was a good compromise.
 
Revvy said:
I agree, I liked the show, except for the rap, of course.

I don't think any show will make everyone on here happy. Like I said originally I'm glad it wasn't totally dumbed down. But realistically It's NOT going to be a show that will teach US anything, expect maybe how to think out of the box with our recipe creation, and how to go about finding and working odd ingredients into our recipes. But it's not going to teach homebrewers how to brew, or how to brew better. At the most it's going to teach people who know very little about beer and brewing, what goes into it.

He did a pretty simplified, yet clear job of explaining the mashing process. But we're not going to be learning how to do a step mash or a decoction mash.

We have to face it here, YES most of us find nothing wrong with watching a live stream of someone brewing, or watching you tube videos bubbling carboys, but we're obsessed beer geeks. In order for a tv show (even on cable) to even get to the production phase, it really has to be mainstream, and appeal to the greatest number of folks possible. And a show that would please we hardcore folks is going to be plain boring and/or over the heads of most folks.

I think this show was a good compromise.
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Well said! :mug:
 
Wow, forty pages on this. First, is there anyway to delete the search results for the merged threads. I wanted to comment on this and had to click through about 5 threads to find the one that was open.

I liked the show, I liked the corny rap, I like the old truck, and even though I've never listened to Miles Davis before, now I want to buy the Bitches Brew album.

Sam and Dogfish Head are at the extreme end of brewing and they admit it. They don't try to market their beers as mainstream, or even promise that you will like them. I have nothing but respect for the guy. He brews the way I would like to brew if I was still doing it. Just an idea or vision, and then go for it.

If I had enough funds to start up a brewery, I'd be brewing just like that and either you'd like my beer or you wouldn't. Personally, I have NOT had a Dogfish Head beer that I didn't enjoy (I haven't had many though).
 
A lot of bashing on successful brewers here. It cracks me up.

People used to be all about Sam Adams, then they got big and people started bashing them and their products. Same thing here, a guy who probably started out the same way we did makes it big and now he's got a TV show and some of you think he's some sort of pompous dick.
 
I thought it was a great episode. As many said, hard to please everyone, but I think they appealed to multiple audiences. If nothing else, there will probably be quite a few new members on homebrewtalk.com looking to learn.
 
I don't understand what you were expecting. This is the Discovery channel and it feels very much like Deadliest Catch, Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, American Chopper, etc.

I suppose expectations would have been met if the show was called A day in the life of Sam but it wouldn't have the same mass appeal. This is the type of show that will get thousands of non brewers just a bit more interested in craft beer and the brewing process and that's a great thing. They actually talked about mash temperature's role in "the type of enzyme that does the starch to sugar conversion". That's pretty damned technical for a pilot show. Did you expect discussion about beta vs alpha amylase? You can always go check out basicbrewing video podcasts.
 
McKBrew said:
A lot of bashing on successful brewers here. It cracks me up.

People used to be all about Sam Adams, then they got big and people started bashing them and their products. Same thing here, a guy who probably started out the same way we did makes it big and now he's got a TV show and some of you think he's some sort of pompous dick.
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maybe you guys hit the nail on the head.. is it just simple jealousy?

what I dont get was the level of animosity in a few posts... like people were angry. "Well this sucks, and that sucks, what a bunch of crap."

I think the fact that DFH is so extreme is what makes it perfect for an interesting show. I just really enjoy anything to do with beer at this point.
 
I thought the interesting part is how he showed his homebrewing roots. I think he is kind of a weird dude, but that wont stop me from enjoying a good DFH brew.
 
McKBrew said:
A lot of bashing on successful brewers here. It cracks me up.

People used to be all about Sam Adams, then they got big and people started bashing them and their products. Same thing here, a guy who probably started out the same way we did makes it big and now he's got a TV show and some of you think he's some sort of pompous dick.
Click to expand...

Bobby_M said:
I don't understand what you were expecting. This is the Discovery channel and it feels very much like Deadliest Catch, Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, American Chopper, etc.

I suppose expectations would have been met if the show was called A day in the life of Sam but it wouldn't have the same mass appeal. This is the type of show that will get thousands of non brewers just a bit more interested in craft beer and the brewing process and that's a great thing. They actually talked about mash temperature's role in "the type of enzyme that does the starch to sugar conversion". That's pretty damned technical for a pilot show. Did you expect discussion about beta vs alpha amylase? You can always go check out basicbrewing video podcasts.
Click to expand...

HItransplant said:
maybe you guys hit the nail on the head.. is it just simple jealousy?

what I dont get was the level of animosity in a few posts... like people were angry. "Well this sucks, and that sucks, what a bunch of crap."

I think the fact that DFH is so extreme is what makes it perfect for an interesting show. I just really enjoy anything to do with beer at this point.
Click to expand...

I think all three of you hit the nail on the head. On the internets bashing is the norm. No matter how good something may be, there's bound to be a few nay sayers, and I think a lot of it IS jealousy.

Hell look at what started to be a really nice thread about Jim Koch, and an amazing piece of customer service, imho.

Interesting, Jim Koch made a video to answer my question on facebook and at least one person has to come on and piss in the swimming pool.

I mean my god, some folks actually think something that we worship like beers actually merits getting it's own tv show? And it actually gets any intelligent coverage, let alone a 10 weeks show devoted to it, and folks gotta hate on it. We should be celebrating, this is really the first time beer has been taken somewhat seriously on national tv. It's going to do, like Bobby said, and TON of good PR for the craft brew industry (you don't think a bunch of BMC drinkers are going to be hunting down bitches brew whether they may end up liking it or not?) For every 10 or 50 bud light drinkers who try one of these beers, I bet we have at least 1-2 who decide to broaden their horizons. And we may even get a few homebrewers out of the mix. I don't think that's bad at all.
 
I don't like a lot of what DFH makes. I have tried a number of their beers. At the same price point and at lesser price points I have a number of beers I like more. While I do give many of them a try even though I suspect I won't like them I then generally end up asking myself why I tried DFH instead of another beer I've never tried time and time again.

For me it has nothing to do with the size of the brewery. In fact, I thought DFH was probably quite a bit larger than what it appears to be on the show. I just don't like most of what they make especially at the price they charge. I do like a lot of what Bells makes. We can finally get Bells in Georgia. Most six packs of Bells run $3-5 more here than what I can get them for in Indiana when I visit friends and family. I don't buy Bells in Georgia. But I do buy it in Indiana and enjoy it. ...maybe I'm just cheap.

Or I spend to much of my money feeding this:

P1220492 by chilort, on Flickr

I'm probably going to have to change my tune though since he drives a Swepty. It would explain why he seems so odd.
 
I thought it was well done, it told a story about something we all enjoy.
Having music as the main theme made it that much better.


Ill be DVR'ing future episodes.
 
I DVR'd this, and when I went to play it yesterday, it was DIRTY JOBS. I couldn't believe it. Fast forwarded through the whole thing, never came on.

DirecTV is getting a nasty letter.
 
Revvy said:
I don't think any show will make everyone on here happy. Like I said originally I'm glad it wasn't totally dumbed down. But realistically It's NOT going to be a show that will teach US anything, expect maybe how to think out of the box with our recipe creation, and how to go about finding and working odd ingredients into our recipes. But it's not going to teach homebrewers how to brew, or how to brew better. At the most it's going to teach people who know very little about beer and brewing, what goes into it.
Click to expand...

That is what I would have liked to see. The actual recipe formulation process. We learned nothing about out of the box recipe creation.
 
I thought the show was pretty entertaining (although the rap gave me the ******-chills, but I'd guess that was part of the intent). I wasn't expecting it to be a super-technical, scientific how-to-brew program, much like I don't expect Deadliest Catch to be a show that breaks down the intricacies of the commercial crab industry. It's definitely earned a season pass on my DVR.

As an aside, I'm another who's hoping to see a glimpse into some of their strategy sessions. It would definitely be an added bonus.


As for the dislike that guys like Jim Koch or Sam (or any craft brewer) seem to garner once they realize success, I look at it in terms how bands are treated. They have those fans that were all about how great band "X" was when they played open-mic shows at some dive bar. They were even excited when they signed with some record label that operated out of a guy's garage. However, once they signed on to open for some huge world tour, or were wooed by Geffen, those same "diehards" turned on them and dubbed them commercial sellouts because the band actually began to realize some modicum of success for their hard work.
 
Revvy said:
Interesting, Jim Koch made a video to answer my question on facebook and at least one person has to come on and piss in the swimming pool.
Click to expand...

Hard to keep track of which thread it is. Seems every other click I see him whining about something.



I watched it last night and I learned a lot about the inside of a brewery. I don't like most of their beers, and some of them I think are just nasty and absurd. Then I think about to the 60, 90 and the chicory stout and realize others like them so rock on with changing things.
 
PolishLogic said:
...(although the rap gave me the ******-chills....
Click to expand...

Great term. Love it. When I saw it I first thing I thought of was;

white-men-cant-jump.jpg
 
I think its obviously going to be DFH specific, but it seems like from following their twitter and whatnot that Calagione will be visiting other breweries as well. (I'm going off memory which ain't what it used to be but think they visit a place in Belgium and maybe one in the midwest). I may be totally wrong about that too though. I really liked the show although I am a big DFH fan & would like to visit their pub in Delaware. I know they've done some collaborations with other breweries so hopefully they'll have that if they continue the show on - would love to see Stone or Sierra Nevada on there (Or Russian River which I've never had).

Kind of interesting - the Chicha show is next. Following that are ones called "Punkin & Portamorilla" and "From Grain to Glass". At least according to the discovery channel brew masters site.
 
The one thing I noted about the show was what a happy-go-lucky guy SC is. The guy literally did not stop smiling the entire show. I guess if I were him I'd be smiling too, but I have a real admiration for people that do what they truly love.
 
GLWIII said:
The one thing I noted about the show was what a happy-go-lucky guy SC is. The guy literally did not stop smiling the entire show. I guess if I were him I'd be smiling too, but I have a real admiration for people that do what they truly love.
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Was it me, or was his smile a little...creepy? Kind of an odd look to it.

:confused:

ETA: OK, I just did an image search on Sam, it appears to just be the way his mouth is shaped. I'm one to talk, I probably scare small children and most dogs.
 
I found the show interesting. But like has been said… this show isn’t going to teach you guys much (except for maybe tighten down your bottling spicket). It’s geared for guys like me who don’t brew (yet) but like beer. Same thing happening here happened on the BBQ forums when Pitmasters (a show about competitive BBQ’n) was introduced. Good show that got decent ratings but it just got blasted by competitive cookers who thought they may learn something or get some secrets or thought their methods were stupid or… …

These shows are made to appeal to the masses… not the small group of hardcore viewers who already know everything.
 
Rockchalk said:
I found the show interesting. But like has been said… this show isn’t going to teach you guys much (except for maybe tighten down your bottling spicket). It’s geared for guys like me who don’t brew (yet) but like beer. Same thing happening here happened on the BBQ forums when Pitmasters (a show about competitive BBQ’n) was introduced. Good show that got decent ratings but it just got blasted by competitive cookers who thought they may learn something or get some secrets or thought their methods were stupid or… …

These shows are made to appeal to the masses… not the small group of hardcore viewers who already know everything.
Click to expand...

Ug, don't get me started on that show. I have yelled myself hoarse over the silly crap on there.
 
I enjoyed the show, and will DVR the rest of the season. For me it was a "hooray beer" show, not advanced recipe formulation 201. I'll agree that Sam seems like a weird dude, and I shared the ******-chills during the rap. I'm curious to see what good info we can glean from background stuff the rest of the season.
 
The crazy thing about that show and the documentary "Beer Wars" is that Sam is really like that. Full tilt and happy to meet you. His employees will tell you the same thing. I met a few while at the brew pub in DE and heard some pretty funny stories. Sam was a former underwear model was probably the funniest but don't listen to me, I'm biased. I even have a pic of me and Sam in my gallery.
 
I find some of the responses in this thread at least as interesting as the first episode of "Beermasters," which I watched on the DVR, it having obligingly taped the program while we were in Japan.

What I found interesting:

1. People who were surprised at all the rap, etc. Get real: the whole deal with Sam & Co. producing this custom brew was as a PR thing for a Sony re-release of a Columbia album. DFH is just the tail of a bigger dog here, and ain't gonna wag it.

2. That there was actually anybody who thought that any part of this program was just going to be a high-end discussion of brewing techniques, maybe a jumped up version of the club's last group brew in somebody's driveway.

3. People who thought that their views of DFH and its beers had anything to do with the content / quality of "Beermasters."

As for me, given the quality of television generally these days, I was quite gratified to see that they actually included a few of the nuts and bolts:

"This is GRAIN. We grind it up. This beer has more SPECIALTY GRAINS."

"This is the MASH. This is where little animated barley kernels go to die, so that WORT may live."

"This is a FERMENTATION tank. YEAST, the magical mystery microbes that make all this possible, live here."

"We are REALLY, REALLY WORRIED that our bottling line will break and so we won't get this beer shipped."

(No, really. Despite my evident sarcasm, I am always pleased when TV allows an actual fact or two through without distortion or "spin.")
 
Finally watched this off my DVR last night, and I loved it! I am not the biggest Sam Calagione fan, by a long shot, and I was very skeptical. But I'm looking forward to the rest of the episodes. Like the others have said, it's not a technical how-to, it's ENTERTAINMENT!

And I love the rap. I had heard the "keep pinchin' pennies" song, and I heard someone mention one about "check yo' gravity" LOL.

As far as the Bitches Brew beer itself, I didn't get a chance to try it when it was around, if it was around, but I might toss some honey and some of those weird sticks and leaves into my next stout and try to make a version myself.
 
Watched it off of my DVR last night, and was really excited. Of course there isnt going to be a full disclosure on how to berw in one episode. This is TELEVISION, after all. and this show did what TV is supposed to do, entertain me. So nice to see a brewing show. I haven't gotten big into DFH, but its a craft brewery, so its good enough for me.

I actually saw the Bitches Brew on the shelves a week or two ago and was interested, but not quite enough. After seeing it brewed and hearing what it is like, I am going to grab one!

Cant wait for the next episode.
 
rico567 said:
I find some of the responses in this thread at least as interesting as the first episode of "Beermasters," which I watched on the DVR, it having obligingly taped the program while we were in Japan.

What I found interesting:

1. People who were surprised at all the rap, etc. Get real: the whole deal with Sam & Co. producing this custom brew was as a PR thing for a Sony re-release of a Columbia album. DFH is just the tail of a bigger dog here, and ain't gonna wag it.

2. That there was actually anybody who thought that any part of this program was just going to be a high-end discussion of brewing techniques, maybe a jumped up version of the club's last group brew in somebody's driveway.

3. People who thought that their views of DFH and its beers had anything to do with the content / quality of "Beermasters."

As for me, given the quality of television generally these days, I was quite gratified to see that they actually included a few of the nuts and bolts:

"This is GRAIN. We grind it up. This beer has more SPECIALTY GRAINS."

"This is the MASH. This is where little animated barley kernels go to die, so that WORT may live."

"This is a FERMENTATION tank. YEAST, the magical mystery microbes that make all this possible, live here."

"We are REALLY, REALLY WORRIED that our bottling line will break and so we won't get this beer shipped."

(No, really. Despite my evident sarcasm, I am always pleased when TV allows an actual fact or two through without distortion or "spin.")
Click to expand...

They actually put some more details than that in there. I heard something like:

"We're looking for a specific temperature for this mash so that certain enzymes can do their work.."

[about the African ingredients]"I'd like to...make a tea out of it..." [Any other experimental brewers out there knows why this is juicy (but not new of course) info]

TB
 
I thought the show was OK. Good premise and I don't mind the "dumbing down" aspect so much. I think what I really disliked was Sam doing the narration. His narration is just... off. It sounds too much like he's reading straight from a scrip, which, when you have no acting ability, sounds really bad.

Also personality wise, I don't think Sam, at least as he comes across on the show, is the type of person I could stand being around. I don't have anything against Sam, or DFH, I just don't think that our personalities would mesh really well. I'm more of a Jim Koch person. Of course, I'm basing this opinion of them purely on what I've seen on TV and I could get a totally different impression of both of them in real life.
 
I thought it was good. It has to be "dumbed down" a bit, for people to get into brewing. Obviously I think all of us here would like for them to open up all of their secrets (not that they actually have many of them), but I was satisfied. I'm interested to see exactly how complicated they will actually get this season though.

Must say, I was excited to see that they just throw **** together without knowing wtf they're doing when making a recipe, much like me, lol.

Btw, that next episode looks nasty.
 
To all the "I think you hit the nail on the head" explainers:

You think that just because a show is about beer, that all of us are supposed to like it? This series is a big fluff monster on a roller coaster. I'd just rather shut off the TV and go do some work in the garage. I'm not much of a TV watcher, and sorry, but this show failed to capture my attention.

I had only one expectation of the series. It has to do with the fact that the title is in the plural form, BrewMasters, as in, more than just one.

I didn't know who the hec SC is, not a groopie, and don't drink DFH beer. It's too expensive. I like Miles Davis. I enjoyed the tour of his brewery. But like many shows on cable these days, I don't respond well to the pretentiousness and "choreographed spontaneity." Hec, the guy drives a "rusty truck" that has most definitely been modified to preserve "the look." I felt like someone is bull****ting me. And I don't like that. The heavy dose of the whole wacky and zany glitz turned me off too.

I'm happy that Sam is a successful man, with a nice brewery, loyal employees, and his very own TV show. This is all very nice. I'm happy for him, and most definitely do not feel any hatred toward the man.

But the whole style and format is not for me. Like I said, I am not much of a TV watcher. I held on until the very end when the kicker came in. Next week we get more Sam. :confused: So, this is not going to be about brewmasters, as in plural? Just Sam?

<click>
 

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