Beer Wars - The Movie. Seen it?

[FizorZed]

Hey all, last night I watched a documentary from 2009 called Beer Wars. Anyone seen it? It was a pretty interesting look into the industry with a David vs. Goliath spin. Since I'm new to home brewing and craft beer enjoyment in general so I just wanted to see if anyone has seen it and can comment on the fact of the movie.

I biggest take away was the shocking about of money that the big beer lobby has and how it's lobby controls politicians. Also, that the big beer companies treat beer less as a beverage, but as a commodity where smaller breweries are in the way of their market share.

http://beerwarsmovie.com/

 

[JBrady]

Yea its a good documentary, the lobby information was shocking to me also. It sucks how the system plays right into the hands of the big breweries and craps on everyone else.

 

[Danbreeze]

I got a copy my last time down at Dogfish Head and it is a good documentary.

It really sad how the 3 tier system is set up to keep BMC on top of the heap at all times.

Damn the man-keep homebrewing!

 

[bierhaus15]

I thought it was 'ok.' Though that lady trying to sell that caffeinated crap she calls beer sorta put me off about the whole thing. Another person selling a sh*t product trying to make money without caring about quality - just like BMC.

And Anat Baron (producer) doesn't even drink beer.... Lame.

 

[KellyK]

Ditto on the amount of time spent on the caffinated beer - moon shot or somthing like that - found that time wasted in the movie with the woman who was selling it completely unlikeable and unsympathetic. She was an executive of Boston Brewing for goodness sake, but she wanted a new "challenge" so she sunk her life savings into hocking a beer that was essentially a caffinated budweiser. To hear her sing "boo hoo woe is me no one wants to buy my beer" for probably 1/3 of the total run time of the movie was nonsensical in my opinion when there are SO many other small craft brewers who also struggle that could have been featured in the film.

My dislike of that part of the movie aside, I did have a good time when I saw it in the theater with friends from my home brew club. We smuggled in cans of Oscar Blues Ten Fidy. I am curious, in the theater screening they went to a "live feed" discussion of the movie after the movie. Is that included on the DVD?

 

[mudarra]

I saw it. It's a typical documentary. "We are special, we are better than everybody else, and the world still pisses on us".

It never acknowledged the simple fact that grocery stores carry the beers they sell the most of. My neighborhood publix has more self space dedicated to "craft" beers than they do to national chains.

And I think beer snobs seem to forget one fact.
In 1876 Budweiser was a craft beer.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

Netflix has it... http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Beer_Wars/70116984?trkid=2361637

M_C

 

[HItransplant]

enjoyed it.. and I too, found it enlightening. Mostly the tactics that AB uses, like the pumpkin ale thing.. very shady. It definitely made me want to 100% avoid all AB owned beer (a real sacrifice )..... I just need to find out how deep they've penetrated.

also, it kinda pissed me off how the sam adams guy went on and on about how wonderful and instrumental rhonda was during the building phase of boston beer company, but when she asked for his help with marketing money for moonshot (i too think it hokey), he pulled the same political sidestep reminiscent of the BMC crowd. That really turned me off of his "im all about the passion," bullcrap.


oh, and I absolutely loved the "blind taste test," especially when the tasters took a sniff, to investigate the nose... haha.

 

[FizorZed]

Good points, fellas. I was really turned off by the AB cease and decist to Dogfish about "Punkin Ale" and their "Craft beers" and Organic beers with fake brewery names to make people think it's something small.

I guess I was just turned off by the big business attitude of the AB crowd. Guys like Sam aren't trying to run the world. They are just trying to make good beer and make a living doing it. I don't think it's whining to complain when the big guys hit below the belt. Sam made a good point when he said that the big brewers putting out an inferior "craft brew" similar to his but at half the price risks turning off a customer who hates it from ever trying his beer of his.

But that seems to be the american way I guess. Good for all the little guys trying to scratch out a living. They have way more courage than I would in taking on the debt to pursue their dream.

 

[Acoma]

I watched it and told my buddy MrColdOnes to check it out too because he was into homebrewing and thought he'd get a kick out of it. I agree with previous posts that chick selling MoonBeer was lame. The best parts were learning more about the lobbying and three tier system along with being introduced to Sam at Dogfish. I actually went out searching for a pack of DFH the very next day. I was already sick of BMC but the movie really opened my eyes to real craft brews.

Now look at me, I'm on this site reading all this info about homebrew patiently waiting for my intermediate kit to come in the mail from Midwest Supplies!

 

[Revvy]

I saw it. It's a typical documentary. "We are special, we are better than everybody else, and the world still pisses on us".

It never acknowledged the simple fact that grocery stores carry the beers they sell the most of. My neighborhood publix has more self space dedicated to "craft" beers than they do to national chains.

And I think beer snobs seem to forget one fact.
In 1876 Budweiser was a craft beer.

And Bud, when it came out was the most expensive beer in the marke.

Great post, btw!

Fact-Craft and imported Brews have been readily available for over 21 years in the marketplace. The population can freely choose what it choose to partake, and whether we like it or not they choose to partake in budlight......

My take on that whole thing is here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/beer-philosophy-what-about-homebrewing-219305/#post2569323

Pretty close to what you wrote.

 

[mudarra]

My take on that whole thing is here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/beer-philosophy-what-about-homebrewing-219305/#post2569323

Good post. I'll have to add Maureen's book to my reading list.

 

[ancapgeko]

I haven't seen the movie so I won't comment on anything specific pertaining to the movie. I have no problem with a company getting big due to putting out a superior product (by superior I mean that more people want to buy it, not necessarily quality), where I do have issue is when larger companies us the power of the government to create barriers for smaller companies.
Beauratic nonsense that older companies didn't have to deal with when they were established.
I've had some experience with this. Making the bussiness climate uncertain regarding the government and legal issues is a real concern with smaller companies, not so bad with larger ones.
All that being said, americans will buy bmc for a long time to come. If our collective tastes start to change then they will alter their offerings to suite. They're genius brewers and you have to respect that even if you don't like their product.

 

[jafo28]

Can someone tell me why Sam would have a carboy of fermenting beer sitting in the window?

 

[Jim Karr]

A real eyeopener into the inner workings of Anheuser-Busch is a newly released book entitled, "Dethroning the King". It describes in excellent detail the personalities of the Busches, and how they eventually sold out to InBev.

 

[HexKrak]

I watched it. The only reason I felt bad for the moonshot lady was that I knew that recent legislation had already killed her company. Other than that I found her story to be distracting from the rest of the movie.

All in all it was a good watch. I learned a lot.

 

[mudarra]

She was eye candy.

 

[madbaldman]

I thought there was way too much whining about Big Brewers and Big Government oppressing the small guy. Sure it happens to some degree in every field of business even though it should not. But after going to my local grocery and choosing between Hop Devil and Hopsecutioner, I'm not really worried about the future of craft brewing (which is a rapidly expanding market).

 

[Wakadaka]

Can someone tell me why Sam would have a carboy of fermenting beer sitting in the window?



That plus the girl selling caffienated beer killed it for me. I thought DFH and Yuengling were perfect interviews for the purpose of the movie, but it ended up just being a debate about capitalism reminiscent of micheal moore, and less actually about beer. Don't get me wrong I feel bad for craft brewers, but I think a large part of the problem isnt that the man (BMC) is keeping them down, its that a large part of the American population has no interest in craft brewing.

Perfect example, I got a free 6 pack (well 5 pack) of DFH 60 min from my gf's roomate. She said some guy brought it over, had one, didn't like it, and just drank his bud light. Great success for me, but the majority of the population just isn't interested in craft beer.

 

[JBrady]

Can someone tell me why Sam would have a carboy of fermenting beer sitting in the window?

They moved the fermenter into the window for a camera shot only. Sam talked about this on a episode of the brewing networks sunday session. He says he hasn't lived the moment down with the home brewing community ever since the documentary came out.

 

[ndsgr]

They moved the fermenter into the window for a camera shot only. Sam talked about this on a episode of the brewing networks sunday session. He says he hasn't lived the moment down with the home brewing community ever since the documentary came out.

To paraphrase, "If I could take back 10 minutes of my entire life..."

It had me rolling anyway.

 

[Hockeyhunter99]

that was one of the first things i thought when i watched it. here is this guy who has started his own brewpub/brewery/brand and he is breaking a cardinal rule of brewing. i was thinking that it was maybe a sun brewed tea but with that level of krausen, i knew it was beer. WTF?? i personally would have said, "film where it is, i am not moving it into the sunlight!"

 

[syd138]

I just watched this. I liked the scenes with Sam.. that moonshot lady distracted from the movie. Could it be that people didnt want to support her cause her beer sucks.

The one thing that was rediculous was Budweiser suing Dogfish Head over their Punkin Ale name

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

A whole brewery (or a marketing company, since she didn't brew) based on ONE gimmicky (caffeinated) beer is just a bad idea, regardless whether the beer is good or not.

M_C

I just watched this. I liked the scenes with Sam.. that moonshot lady distracted from the movie. Could it be that people didnt want to support her cause her beer sucks.

 

[pnj]

This movie is on Hulu right now. Free.....

I just watched it over the weekend. I agree, 'too much of the moon shot lady'.
Bring back 4Loko!!!

 

[TomHanx]

CLEARLY shot by someone who came in with their own opinion of the business and system, and did not present balanced and realistic view.

With out going into all the smaller subtle hints I'll stick to the most glaring, biggest point to this is- the whole build up of the film is they make bland/boring beer and run the distribution system and at 1 hour and 18 minutes into it Anat Baron is narrating her trip to Budweiser headquarters in St. Louis. She point blank says "as I got deeper into the center of the Anheiser Bush Empire, it finally hit me that A.B. had gotten this big because it had politicians and laws on its side and by using its marketing machine it was able to push consumers to buy its product rather than respond to market demand".

Maybe it does have laws on it's side, maybe it doesn't; it does have a huge "marketing machine", but in no way is it "pushing" anyone to buy A.B. products. There's no one standing there with a gun pointed to my head wearing a Bud-light shirt when I'm at the gas station getting a 6 pack saying give me your money.

Guess what?! I like to drink bud-light. Yeah crazy huh, don't get me wrong I love more flavorful beers as well but I still like bud light. I can go to the pub and have different micro-brews and enjoy a good dunkel, english brown ale, or a fruit beer but I also like to drink american lagers and light beers. They make a good light american lager and that's why they're on top. People like her and others act like Budweiser didn't start from the bottom too, they did and they succeeded. Get over it.

 

[pnj]

Marketing IS pushing people to buy a certain product. There is a reason companies spend the amount of money marketing their products. Because it works.

With that said, any documentary is going to be one sided.....

 

[TomHanx]

and to the point about the moon shot beer, I didn't try it and don't know if it was actually any good so I can't comment about that. But yes it was annoying to have her in the film b/c it was such a clear attempt at trying to play the emotional card.

They set her up as this struggling little brewer who is sacrificing so much to make her product work, she works late and long hours, can't spend as much time with her family as she wants or should (the crying daughter scene), and just basically can't catch a break.

Guess what? That's pretty much what everyone who runs their own business has to deal with!! It's not directly A.B. fault she was having difficulty, it's just plain difficult to run a business stupid. It's a lot of work, if it was easy everybody would be running their own brewery or restaurant or internet start up.

 

[pnj]

A better documentary is American Beer, if you can find it. NOT the movie about the canadians that come to the US.

It's five guys from NY that travel to different states sampling the beer.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372140/

 

[jbrookeiv]

A better documentary is American Beer, if you can find it. NOT the movie about the canadians that come to the US.

It's five guys from NY that travel to different states sampling the beer.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372140/

Great documentary. I need to find these two on my hard drive and watch them soon.

 

[TomHanx]

Marketing IS pushing people to buy a certain product. There is a reason companies spend the amount of money marketing their products. Because it works.

agreed, so maybe Sam Calagione should quit trying to villainize A.B. and the other bigs for being good at what they do (make and sell beer). They realize that the vast majority of American's don't want a beer with a lot of flavor and they cater to that. And yes brand awareness, not any body else's fault you don't have the budget to play with the bigboys. No reason to get all pissy and say "oh well they take up all the shelf space so we can't sell our beer".

Bullsht! If it was as hot a commodity as he thinks it is, it'll work out. Right now though they simply out sell everyone else. So increase your marketing budget, come up with a better product, or whatever you can.

 

[TomHanx]

A better documentary is American Beer, if you can find it. NOT the movie about the canadians that come to the US.

It's five guys from NY that travel to different states sampling the beer.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372140/

sounds good. I'll have to check it out. I'd rather just actually watch a documentary about beer itself anyways

 

[jbrookeiv]

agreed, so maybe Sam Calagione should quit trying to villainize A.B. and the other bigs for being good at what they do (make and sell beer). They realize that the vast majority of American's don't want a beer with a lot of flavor and they cater to that. And yes brand awareness, not any body else's fault you don't have the budget to play with the bigboys. No reason to get all pissy and say "oh well they take up all the shelf space so we can't sell our beer".

Bullsht! If it was as hot a commodity as he thinks it is, it'll work out. Right now though they simply out sell everyone else. So increase your marketing budget, come up with a better product, or whatever you can.

The big guys also have lobbyists on their payroll to make it as difficult as possible for craft breweries to exist. Goes a little beyond fair business IMO.

 

[motobrewer]

also, it kinda pissed me off how the sam adams guy went on and on about how wonderful and instrumental rhonda was during the building phase of boston beer company, but when she asked for his help with marketing money for moonshot (i too think it hokey), he pulled the same political sidestep reminiscent of the BMC crowd. That really turned me off of his "im all about the passion," bullcrap.

this is wrong. just because she did a good job when she worked for Jim, doesn't mean he should fund every ridiculous business proposal his former employees come up with. and this is a very bad proposal.

him not funding it shows more dedication toward craft beer than if he had funded it.

 

[pnj]

They realize that the vast majority of American's don't want a beer with a lot of flavor and they cater to that.

I would say most people that drink BMC do so because that is what they've been told to drink by the marketing they see on TV, etc. What if, from the dawn of time, they marketed 'quality' beer?

So increase your marketing budget, come up with a better product, or whatever you can.

Exactly.

 

[Bashiba]

As someone with 20 years on the retail side of beer, I couldn't disagree with this movie more. If the 3 Tier system was broken it would allow giant chains like Walmart to buy directly from Bud and Miller and undercut everyone one else in the market. This would lead to many of the places that are going to be more craft brew friendly struggling to compete. There aren't to many markets where good independent stores can survive on craft beer alone. If you take away their domestic business they won't survive, so there won't be places for the craft breweries to take their beers.

There are craft brewery driven small distributorship's now covering most of the country and doing a good job making the stuff available. Plus realistically most craft breweries don't have the resources to do it themselves beyond a very small region. Breaking the 3 tier will just make it worse for all of us, I absolutely believe this 100percent.

 

[JBrady]

As someone with 20 years on the retail side of beer, I couldn't disagree with this movie more. If the 3 Tier system was broken it would allow giant chains like Walmart to buy directly from Bud and Miller and undercut everyone one else in the market. This would lead to many of the places that are going to be more craft brew friendly struggling to compete. There aren't to many markets where good independent stores can survive on craft beer alone. If you take away their domestic business they won't survive, so there won't be places for the craft breweries to take their beers.

There are craft brewery driven small distributorship's now covering most of the country and doing a good job making the stuff available. Plus realistically most craft breweries don't have the resources to do it themselves beyond a very small region. Breaking the 3 tier will just make it worse for all of us, I absolutely believe this 100percent.

Good post.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

I beg to differ on this. I do not see a disadvantage if breweries could deliver their products themselves, AND/OR go through the distributorship, at their choice. Small brewers that want more exposure could use the distributor, while local breweries could deliver to local accounts.

Brewpubs would be much more inclined to serve local accounts if they didn't have to setup with a distributor. And that's not even to mention that their profit margins would be increased and likely (or at least possibly) the price at the tap would be lower.

Bud of Columbia is a distributor here in SC, and I find it extremely crass when a brewery is also the distributor. They can pretty much dictate whatever price they want to distribute your product, and downright even refuse to carry it. They can also increase the final price so much that they're driving your product out of the market.

M_C

As someone with 20 years on the retail side of beer, I couldn't disagree with this movie more. If the 3 Tier system was broken it would allow giant chains like Walmart to buy directly from Bud and Miller and undercut everyone one else in the market. This would lead to many of the places that are going to be more craft brew friendly struggling to compete. There aren't to many markets where good independent stores can survive on craft beer alone. If you take away their domestic business they won't survive, so there won't be places for the craft breweries to take their beers.

There are craft brewery driven small distributorship's now covering most of the country and doing a good job making the stuff available. Plus realistically most craft breweries don't have the resources to do it themselves beyond a very small region. Breaking the 3 tier will just make it worse for all of us, I absolutely believe this 100percent.

 

[Bashiba]

I beg to differ on this. I do not see a disadvantage if breweries could deliver their products themselves, AND/OR go through the distributorship, at their choice. Small brewers that want more exposure could use the distributor, while local breweries could deliver to local accounts.

Brewpubs would be much more inclined to serve local accounts if they didn't have to setup with a distributor. And that's not even to mention that their profit margins would be increased and likely (or at least possibly) the price at the tap would be lower.

Bud of Columbia is a distributor here in SC, and I find it extremely crass when a brewery is also the distributor. They can pretty much dictate whatever price they want to distribute your product, and downright even refuse to carry it. They can also increase the final price so much that they're driving your product out of the market.

M_C

Some very nice points, I totally agree the manufacturer cannot be allowed to own the distributor - Then its not 3-tier anymore its 2-tier.

Also many states have exceptions for small local brewiers and wineries, in fact Illinois just added one to allow up to 7,500 barrels worth of self distribution before needing to go through a distributor.

My points are there are small ways to make the system better than just blowing it up and watching walmart and other big chains destroy the industry and take all those jobs right with it.

 

[Brewphish]

@TomHanx - I find it mildly amusing that the picture you used has a big Miller Lite banner in the background.

Like most, I enjoyed the film. I thought the Moonshot chick was a ******, and I was disheartened/surprised by how many smaller breweries got bought or put out of business by AB-InBev. It did also help set my mind to finally start homebrewing.