Beer Wars: The Movie

[RandalG]

It was interesting to see DFH, wish there was a lot more segments on craft breweries.

As mentioned earlier in this thread make sure you see this bockumentary: http://www.sixhundred.com/films/american_beer/

In June of 2002, five friends left New York City by minivan and traveled across the United States in search of good beer, visiting 38 breweries in 40 days.Very entertaining.

 

[DavidSteel]

Got it in my instant queue. I'll go ahead and say thought that I don't see BMC as evil (haven't seen the flick yet). BMC sells what we will buy in massive quantities. Granted it's not the best beer, but it's also something that very few of us could make if we wanted to. The majority of their products are so light that you can't hide any flaws...the process has to be perfect every time. BTW, I've got a 12'er of Mich Light in the fridge right now. Sometimes, after a days work it's just the ticket to pop a top on a Michelob light, sit at the table and me and the wife will decompress for a few. Don't lie to yourself, for what it is, it's a decent beer.

I'll go one step further and say that I'm hoping the Inbev/Anheiser giant will bring more of their european brands here. Some of those are pretty darn good for comercial beer.

The film wasn't dissing on BMC in general (besides that it all tastes the same because it is all one style, e.g. light lager). It was about how hard it is for craft brewery's to make it with these huge corporations out there buying everything out and telling the people what they should drink. It's about big corporations overrunning little corporations and ruining the idea (american dream) that one can make a living doing something they love (e.g. making/selling their beer). I think anything that involves a group of people blindly following them is completely retarded and should not exist (e.g. patriotism, religion, etc.).

 

[DavidSteel]

As mentioned earlier in this thread make sure you see this bockumentary: http://www.sixhundred.com/films/american_beer/

In June of 2002, five friends left New York City by minivan and traveled across the United States in search of good beer, visiting 38 breweries in 40 days.Very entertaining.

You know any place I can watch this in a bigger screen size? It's soooooooo small.

Edit: never mind, that was just a trailer sort of thing. I see...

 

[rmolledo]

great movie. Also check out American Brew

 

[kidsmakeyoucrazy]

The film wasn't dissing on BMC in general (besides that it all tastes the same because it is all one style, e.g. light lager). It was about how hard it is for craft brewery's to make it with these huge corporations out there buying everything out and telling the people what they should drink. It's about big corporations overrunning little corporations and ruining the idea (american dream) that one can make a living doing something they love (e.g. making/selling their beer). I think anything that involves a group of people blindly following them is completely retarded and should not exist (e.g. patriotism, religion, etc.).

I'm watching it now. I do not doubt that they have the power to dictate shelf space...but how is this different than any other producer? I'm not defending them I'm just saying how is this different than say Kraft saying if you carry brand X you'll pay more for our product or you can't carry brand Y of our product. It's business. It's not pretty but it's business. A lot of it falls back on the stores when they started looking for kickbacks to carry a certain product. That's why I visit smaller shops when I can since they don't have to deal with the economies that chains do and can carry what they damn well please.

 

[kidsmakeyoucrazy]

I just watched the segment on shelf space..and I'm wondering who paid who off to get Carolina Blonde eye level shelf space in Food Lion...I'm not saying they don't have a point because they do. The big guys have ways to ensure that their products are on the shelf...but why is Carolina Blonde always top shelf in my Food Lion? Actually why are ALL the "craft" brews at the very front of the beer isle. I'd say that craft brews (including some AB brands) take up 1/4 of the total shelf space. This is a college town so that may have something to do with it.

 

[Synovia]

I'm watching it now. I do not doubt that they have the power to dictate shelf space...but how is this different than any other producer? I'm not defending them I'm just saying how is this different than say Kraft saying if you carry brand X you'll pay more for our product or you can't carry brand Y of our product. It's business. It's not pretty but it's business. A lot of it falls back on the stores when they started looking for kickbacks to carry a certain product. That's why I visit smaller shops when I can since they don't have to deal with the economies that chains do and can carry what they damn well please.

Kraft doesn't have the advantage of working with a product that is as heavily controlled as alchohol. BMC have essentially managed to legislate most of their competition away.

 

[kidsmakeyoucrazy]

If you think that Kraft cannot dictate what is on the shelf at your local store you are naive. I agree that the "system" can make it difficult to get beer on the shelf but it is not impossible. The bottom line is if the retailers think it will sell..they will carry it. If bcould get Leffe here on the shelf...I'm not sure I'd ever brew again You know who owns Leffe now right?

 

[BlueSunshine]

If you think that Kraft cannot dictate what is on the shelf at your local store you are naive. I agree that the "system" can make it difficult to get beer on the shelf but it is not impossible. The bottom line is if the retailers think it will sell..they will carry it. If bcould get Leffe here on the shelf...I'm not sure I'd ever brew again You know who owns Leffe now right?

Yeah AB InBev pretty much owns everything along with SABMiller and Carlsberg. What gets me is that people think they're drinking "American Beer" when it's owned by Belgian and South African companies.

Which brings another argument when AB brings imports and/or "micro breweries" that they own to the shelf to rope in people that are curious to try something different. They have all their bases covered to the point where they can do whatever they want when it comes to retail space.

 

[Sedge]

Anyone else notice that Sam from DFH had a carboy fermenting in direct sunlight?

 

[DavidSteel]

Anyone else notice that Sam from DFH had a carboy fermenting in direct sunlight?

Yeah, that had me confused a bit. I heard Sam talking about homebrewing before and turns out he doesn't know much about all grain brewing and I didn't get the impression that he knew very much about brewing in general from what I seen. Totally threw me off.

 

[deepsouth]

Anyone else notice that Sam from DFH had a carboy fermenting in direct sunlight?

we talked about that and decided that we think it was put there so it would show in the movie that he still homebrews. we doubted that was left there to ferment.

 

[Sedge]

ahh. That would make more sense. I know the man knows how to homebrew, that's how he started the company.

 

[DavidSteel]

ahh. That would make more sense. I know the man knows how to homebrew, that's how he started the company.

Yeah, obviously lol. It's just in interviews when he is asked for advice on homebrewing, he was never really able to suggest anything and it always seemed that the person asking the question knew more than he did and kept correcting him on what they meant lol. Look up his name on youtube, he did some questions on a "google" type sponsor video.

 

[rmolledo]

da vinci may not have known sh*t about making paint, but he sure knew how it blend, mix, and apply it.

 

[Reelale]

Did I imagine it or did one shot in the movie indicate that InBev was also taking over Leffe? That's no good. But then again, Leffe on the beer racks at the local grocer doesn't sound too bad.

 

[SkewedBrewing]

Did I imagine it or did one shot in the movie indicate that InBev was also taking over Leffe? That's no good. But then again, Leffe on the beer racks at the local grocer doesn't sound too bad.

I think Leffe's been owned by them for a while now.

I just got around to watching this, from a film stand point I thought she did a good job of not trying to be too biased while still showing that the bigger companies are definitely the enemy.

On another note, I loved the part where Sam Calagione talked about how BMC are committing "identity theft" in a way when they try to make more beers similar to craft brews (like blue moon, evil i tell you!)

 

[rmolledo]

Did I imagine it or did one shot in the movie indicate that InBev was also taking over Leffe? That's no good. But then again, Leffe on the beer racks at the local grocer doesn't sound too bad.

lets hope they don't change the recipe to use cheaper adjuncts etc.

 

[rmolledo]

according to wikipedia...

Harbin Lager
Tiger Beer
Kirin
Bass Ale
Boddingtons
Beck's
Hoegaarden
Leffe
Stella Artois
Löwenbräu
Tennent's Ale
Budvar Czechvar
Sedrin Beer
Land Shark Lager
Rolling Rock
Tequiza
Red Hook Brewing
Widmer Brothers Brewery
Grupo Modelo
Goose Island Brewery
Kona Brewing Company
Fordham Brewing Company
Old Dominion Brewing Company
Michelob

are all Anheuser–Busch owned

 

[DavidSteel]

according to wikipedia...

Harbin Lager
Tiger Beer
Kirin
Bass Ale
Boddingtons
Beck's
Hoegaarden
Leffe
Stella Artois
Löwenbräu
Tennent's Ale
Budvar Czechvar
Sedrin Beer
Land Shark Lager
Rolling Rock
Tequiza
Red Hook Brewing
Widmer Brothers Brewery
Grupo Modelo
Goose Island Brewery
Kona Brewing Company
Fordham Brewing Company
Old Dominion Brewing Company
Michelob

are all Anheuser–Busch owned

Looks like I should stop buying any goose island (I liked their harvest ale when I tried it a year ago) and Kobra (when I'm low on money). Well then. Looks like PBR all the way for large gatherings.

 

[Dalarast]

Looks like I should stop buying any goose island (I liked their harvest ale when I tried it a year ago) and Kobra (when I'm low on money). Well then. Looks like PBR all the way for large gatherings.

Or pre-plan large gatherings by making extra batches of beer for your gatherings. Make it a tasting for people who might not be experienced with craft or home brewed beer. You might make some new trading buddies!

 

[BlueSunshine]

Looks like I should stop buying any goose island (I liked their harvest ale when I tried it a year ago) and Kobra (when I'm low on money). Well then. Looks like PBR all the way for large gatherings.

Alot of those breweries still do their own thing (like Red Hook for example). However, AB InBev gives them distribution deals and takes their profits without changing the company too much.

On the other hand, there's garbage like Shock Top that isn't a micro brew it all but it's marketed as such.

 

[Weezknight]

Just finished up watching the movie. I thought it was pretty good. Agreed, though, that I got tired of Rhonda and her caffeine beer.

I was also surprised at how many brands are now under the A-B/InBev name. I guess no more Boddy's for me. I'm not a big fan of people manipulating the system (illegal incentives in Massachusetts as the movie pointed out), which is why I don't give my money to the big brewers.

I was glad to see good ole' Dick Yuengling, though! Him and Koch have to have the most stressful jobs, walking the thin line between being seen as a craft brewer and a mass marketer!

 

[rmolledo]

I was glad to see good ole' Dick Yuengling, though!

I thought it was cool to see last night on THE OFFICE michael and his former boss were drinking yuengling black and tans

 

[Weezknight]

I thought it was cool to see last night on THE OFFICE michael and his former boss were drinking yuengling black and tans

I noticed that, too. As a Pennsylvanian, I love to see how good the Office's research team is. They always have "Pennsylvania" type things sitting around.

 

[Synovia]

Alot of those breweries still do their own thing (like Red Hook for example). However, AB InBev gives them distribution deals and takes their profits without changing the company too much.

On the other hand, there's garbage like Shock Top that isn't a micro brew it all but it's marketed as such.

Right, AB Inbev just distributes Goose Island.

 

[Bassman]

Right, AB Inbev just distributes Goose Island.

I'm glad they are not ruining Honker's Ale. I have fond memories of working in Chicago for a couple of months and drinking Honker's.

 

[DavidSteel]

Right, AB Inbev just distributes Goose Island.

Does that mean I can still buy it? I'm pretty anti-busch lol. I remember trying their harvest ale a year ago when I first started drinking and I liked it a lot. I wouldn't mind giving it a try again.

 

[pdbreen]

Watched this today on Netflix streaming - not the greatest documentary I've seen, but was happy to see Downtown Wine & Spirits. Before moving to VT, I used to live a block away from this beer mecca!

 

[Brewkowski]

Looks like I should stop buying any goose island (I liked their harvest ale when I tried it a year ago) and Kobra (when I'm low on money). Well then. Looks like PBR all the way for large gatherings.

I was just trying to look up Stag and Hamm's, and according to some links they label Pabst as kind of a marketing company because they don't actually sell beer. Is Heilman's (Stag, Stroh's, Hamms) basically part of the big guys?

I just watched Beer Wars, and it has thoroughly wet my appetite for anything that is not brewed by the major corporations. Definitely agree about too much Moonshot coverage. Personally it seems like a really lame idea and impossible to launch a single brand brew that's not really that great except that it has caffeine in it.