Jump to content

Beer Wars


s33ktruth
 Share

Recommended Posts

Just watched an awesome documentary on beer. If you guys enjoy the beer from micro-breweries and small, independent companies, this you have to watch! It goes over how budweiser, coors, and miller are the corporate behemoths taking over and trying to consume what micro-breweries have been doing, and how they control a huge part of the market. These 3 corporate companies make up over 90% of the market, and try to put smaller breweries out of business. I for one hate the way that beer tastes, and never did support it.

It was really funny to see the people that have no clue on what a real beer should taste like, or educated enough to consider that "being a bud guy" makes you a stamp of their advertising. Anyways, here is a description of Beer Wars.

Beer Wars is a 2009 documentary film about the American beer industry. In particular, it covers the differences between large corporate breweries, namely Anheuser-Busch, the Miller Brewing Company, and the Coors Brewing Company opposed to smaller breweries like Dogfish Head Brewery, Stone Brewery and other producers of craft beer. Also covered is how advertising and lobbyists are used to control the beer market, implying that these things harm competition and consumer choice.

Throughout the film there is a theme that the smallest breweries have next to no chance to compete due to the sheer volume of advertising and outdated beer distribution laws. The original laws demanded a three tier system to separate the powers of selling beer. The law demands that the beer brewer cannot deliver directly to the retailer, supposedly creating a separation of powers resembling the US government's congress, judicial, and executive branches. The film claims these laws are now inhibiting growth of smaller brewers and therefore allowing the largest brewers (Coors, Anheuser-Busch, and Miller) to maintain a monopoly on beer.

The film was written, produced, narrated, and directed by Anat Baron, former head of Mike's Hard Lemonade.

This is on Netflix.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Watched this pretty recently! Not the best "production value" but pretty informative and I've recommended it to many. Even better, the guy who runs Dogfish Head, huge jock meathead type -- but also apparently a BEER GENIUS and totally hilarious. Has me spending a couple extra bucks on better beers and thinking twice about picking up a sixer of any Anheuser Busch brand, which is tough to avoid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Watched this pretty recently! Not the best "production value" but pretty informative and I've recommended it to many. Even better, the guy who runs Dogfish Head, huge jock meathead type -- but also apparently a BEER GENIUS and totally hilarious. Has me spending a couple extra bucks on better beers and thinking twice about picking up a sixer of any Anheuser Busch brand, which is tough to avoid.

Yep, that hops filter they made at the convention looked great, just hop oils being filtered out of the hops. Really made me go :eek:

When I saw that Anheuser Bush was the company that made that Pumpkin Ale, I shook my head, I had that crap last fall, and it was disgusting....They own way too many beer companies, because they suck at making a good product.

I'm all for micro-breweries, if you guys can, try out this beer called St. Arnolds, from Houston, Tx. I went to the brewery tour and had some of the best beer from there.

I don't think he was a meat head tho man, he was wearing a melvins shirt and talked like a skater/surfer IMO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you like Beer Wars, check out the movie American Beer, I watched it on Netflix not sure if its still available. A group of guys go to 38 breweries in 40 days across America. A lot of history and some great stories. Made me want to start home brewing.

Thanks going to check this out tonight !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shit we can't get netflix in the uk. But I can get Sierra Nevada. Had a few of those on Saturday night. Brooklyn Lager from the Brooklyn Brewery is another independant, I think. I bought some Blue Moon the other day only to find out it not a craft beer but made and owned by Coors.

Brings back great memories of my first trip to New York sitting in the Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station.

Also bought some Anchor Steam beer & some Goose Bay Honkers recently online.

If anyone can recommend any good craft beer from the USA I would be glad to do some research. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shit we can't get netflix in the uk. But I can get Sierra Nevada. Had a few of those on Saturday night. Brooklyn Lager from the Brooklyn Brewery is another independant, I think. I bought some Blue Moon the other day only to find out it not a craft beer but made and owned by Coors.

Brings back great memories of my first trip to New York sitting in the Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station.

Also bought some Anchor Steam beer & some Goose Bay Honkers recently online.

If anyone can recommend any good craft beer from the USA I would be glad to do some research. :)

Funny I was just in London from June 24 to July 3rd. Now that I'm back I've been trying to get a hold of some fuller's ale. Not an easy task. I want to try it cold, it was different drinking warm beer. Also odd about the inability to use netflix. I brought my laptop and tried to watch a movie and was shut-down. Really enjoyed London and can't wait to get back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My favorite brewery is Lagunitas out of California. They specialize in mostly strong beers but have a Czech Pilsner, IPA, Imperial Stout and a Dogtown Pale that are their year round beers. I don't know what the chances of getting them in the UK but I know the US distrubition has recently expanded. Anderson Valley is another Brewery in that area that is great. They make a great Amber Ale, and their Summer Solstice is a great session beer. Their Oatmeal Stout was like top 5 on best beers in US at one time. On the other side of the country Dogfish Head and HeBrew brewing and Schmaltz make some good stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll be trying some of those beers out. We've got some good online suppliers in the UK.

I can get hold of 7 different Dogfish brews. Theres a few I have never heard of that I can order from an online supplier.

Victory Brewing Co

Stone Brewing Co

Terrapin Beer Co

Steamworks Brewing Co

Smuttynose Brewing Co

Rogue Ales

Odell Brewing Co

Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales

Flying Dog Brewery

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll be trying some of those beers out. We've got some good online suppliers in the UK.

I can get hold of 7 different Dogfish brews. Theres a few I have never heard of that I can order from an online supplier.

Victory Brewing Co

Stone Brewing Co

Terrapin Beer Co

Steamworks Brewing Co

Smuttynose Brewing Co

Rogue Ales

Odell Brewing Co

Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales

Flying Dog Brewery

Stone stuff is great especially Arrogant Bastard but it is super malty super hoppy strong beer. You can't go wrong with any of those beers.

Rogue is local and makes some good stuff Dead Guy is their most popular beer but I prefer their Brutal Bitter, Yellow Snow IPA,Juniper Pale ALe and American Amber. Their Mocha Porter and Hazelnut Brown is good too. They also distill spirits and have released a line of beers aged in whiskey, gin and rum barrels.

I have only tried Flying Dog's Imperial IPA and it was good but the thing I most remember about it is the bottles have the art of Ralph Steadman and are named after Hunter S Thompson.

Odell's i believe is a midwest beer, I don't know too much about them but most breweries in the midwest tend to shy away from really hoppy beers and mostly focus on Lagers and Belgian and other wheat beers I have found

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If anyone can recommend any good craft beer from the USA I would be glad to do some research. :)

I love strong, hoppy IPAs. My favorites are Racer 5 by Bear Republic and Pliny the Elder by Russian River Brewing Company. You actually can't go wrong with any beer either of those places make. Lately I've also been into black IPAs. Deshutes makes a great one called Hop in the Dark and 21st Amendment's Back in Black is really good too.

I went to the Anderson Valley Company's beer festival this year. It was all you could drink from 80+ breweries. It was crowded, but fantastic. I'm almost embarrassed to say that I had tried most of the beers there already though. I love trying new beers. Anderson Valley makes Boont, which is a decent amber. My favorite beer of theirs is their summer seasonal beer, Summer Solstice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went to the Anderson Valley Company's beer festival this year. It was all you could drink from 80+ breweries. It was crowded, but fantastic. I'm almost embarrassed to say that I had tried most of the beers there already though. I love trying new beers. Anderson Valley makes Boont, which is a decent amber. My favorite beer of theirs is their summer seasonal beer, Summer Solstice.

Anderson Valley has been putting out such great beer the past few years. The Boont is okay, but your right, the Summer Solstice is unreal.

Lagunitas brewing company out of Petaluma is incredible. Their "Undercover Shutdown" is one of the best god damn beers I have ever had. Any of the Anchor beers out of San Francisco are wonderful as well. Another good one to check out is Snowshoe Brewery from Arnold, CA. It might be a hard one for you to find, but its some of the best beer I have had from a micro-brew in California.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Racer 5 was the first beer that got me into IPA's. I just found some Russian River Sour Beers at Trader Joe's the other day spendy but worth it. I really love everything Lagunitas puts out. Brown Shuggah is probably my favorite or maybe the Wilco Tango Foxtrot. For awhile they were making a beer about Frank Zappa every year. I am getting ready to try to make a beer similar to Brown Shuggah while my wife is out of town this weekend. I hope it turns out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...