Discovery Cancels Brewmasters

[Revvy]

I still think they could do like 5 eps on a brewery then move to a nother one. Honestly, even I could get tired of it eventually even then.

I was thinking about this yesterday. I know some folks hated him, but I liked sam as a host. I think a show with him hosting would be interesting.But like you said, at first him visiting different brewers might be interesting, hell after seeing a pic that someone posted of AHB's St Louis brewery from his tour last week, even seeing a piece on them might be interesting. But just how exciting would it be for the average joe? I mean "This week Sam meets the brewer of New Glarus for a rousing exploration of oak aged beers."

But at the same time, he is sort of the indiana jones of brewing, he likes to explore beer from around the world, old and new. Could a show like "No-reservations" with him as a host about beer culture, not just about brewing/homebrewing but beer/alcohol culture in general fly in a way that is interesting BOTH for folks like us AND "joe sixpack?"

Maybe beer culture is too nichelike. Maybe one hour specials are all that can hold folks interest.

We had several of those airing in the last few months. I caught a couple/three of them...I can't find the link to the third show...It might not have been my thread.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/follow-beer-belgian-cooking-channel-right-now-230353/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f19/history-tap-homebrewing-contest-tv-show-history-channel-wtf-213750/

The thing is, having worked in TV, I know how they think...Even though there was a short run, and Discovery didn't renew, the minute the first episode aired, you had folks at other channels and independent production companies jumping on the bandwagon, we've even seen posts on here from some video production people talking about developing show-heck even Mbowenz shot airable video of his Artic Alchemy bike trip and has some interest by channels (I think History is interested.)

I predict that just like it's the golden era for craft beer available in America right now, that this year we're going to see a lot of "beer tv."

And of course knowing the internetz and this place, we're gonna hate it all.

 

[BWN]

Although it would be interesting to see the same type of show for other breweries, you have to realize Sam Calgione has the personality to be on TV. Whether you like him or not you can't just take any brewery owner and put them on TV. I'm sure there are people who do this everyday and realized that he had some kind of marketability. I do think they could have taken the show in a different direction though.

 

[Revvy]

Although it would be interesting to see the same type of show for other breweries, you have to realize Sam Calgione has the personality to be on TV. Whether you like him or not you can't just take any brewery owner and put them on TV. I'm sure there are people who do this everyday and realized that he had some kind of marketability. I do think they could have taken the show in a different direction though.

Exactly I think he'd make a great tourguide into the world of brewing.

 

[CTownBrewer]

True. Sam has great personality & passion for what he does. The only other brewery I can think of that might work is Stone with Greg Koch & Mitch Steele.

Sent from my iPhone using HB Talk

 

[bluidshay]

I'm sad to see this show not get renewed. I for one loved this show, even though I only discovered it in time to see two eps. Sam's courageous style of making beer, and the fact that a brewed bottle of Dogfish Head is not only a delicious drink but often a history lesson, a geography lesson, and a primer on brewing technique fascinated me and made me start seeking out his more off-the-wall beers to sample.

 

[Chad]

Although it would be interesting to see the same type of show for other breweries, you have to realize Sam Calgione has the personality to be on TV.

By "personality to be on TV" do you mean, "Like Billy Mays or the ShamWow guy," because I find him that grating. Of course, Billy Mays and the ShamWow guy sold a lot of freaking product, so maybe there's something to that, but I'd much rather see somebody like Jim Koch, Dick Yuengling, Jeff Lebesch, John Lyda, or any of a half dozen other well spoken, thoughtful brewers who are good on camera and don't have the raging egomania that makes Sam Calagione such a chore to watch.

 

[gclay]

When I first watched Brew Masters I thought it would be about different breweries like the name suggests. They should have called it DFH - A journey into craft brewing. I liked the show and learning the history of brewing like in the Egypt episode. I hope someone comes out with a show that goes from brewery to brewery and shows what it's like to operate a craft brewery and the challenges they faced while starting out. That's a show I would watch religously. To me whether "Big Beer" had anything to do with BM ending or not is irrelevant, just that the show really didn't have a chance to take off.

 

[jturie]

I respect how passionate you seem to be about promoting good beer awareness, but I can't get over the fact that in a few of your posts, you seem to be surprised that we won't "organize" and get behind something some of us disagree with.

I am a HUGE beer enthuasiast. I've been a serious beer "geek" for over 10 years now and have been brewing for 6 of those 10. I am on this forum, reading books, or researching beer for at least 1-2 hours every single day. I brew or bottle/keg, every week. BUT... I didn't like Brewmasters, thought it was more of a Sam Love-Fest than anything else, and am glad to see it GONE.

I won't jump on the bandwagon and vote because it is a vote for a show I didn't like and which doesn't represent my view of this industry/hobby. Asking us to just vote for it because maybe it will lead to other things is a little bit of a stretch.

Again, I respect your passion, and certainly mean no hard feelings, but this is a disagreement I for one cannot overlook. If that show returns, I think it should have an entirely different look, and I cannot get behind that which we have already seen.

Sorry.

But, still,

+1 I really wanted to like the show, but frankly it was kind of boring. Watching them build that goofy lawn sculpture just didn't do it for me. Even though I love homebrewing, it doesn't mean that I will automatically fight to retain a beer show on TV.

Despite various nefarious scenarios, I think the show was killed due to lack of interest/small demographic/no advertisers.