When this film begins, it's a bit misleading. I can forgive this, but the narrator talks as if the USA is THE beer-drinking capital of the world. And, while the USA has a huge corporate presence, American's, on average, are NOT that big on drinking beer--at least compared to several other beer-guzzling nations. No, the Czech Republic, Ireland and Germany FAR surpass the States when it comes to beer consumption. So, I am sorry, but although the craft beer industry has grown remarkably and Miller and Budweiser are big-name beers, we just aren't that into beer as a country. Two sources find the USA #13 in per capita beer consumption (Wikipedia and CNBC). So, take the opening remarks with a grain of salt.
Now where the film gets it right is discussing how much of the US beer market is dominated by mega-corporations that market the heck out of their products. And, that there is a much, much smaller and less advertising-savvy craft beer market--but the deck is clearly stacked against them. This is also like the soft drink industry--where Coke and Pepsi dominate though there isn't a qualitative difference between the products of most companies. It's all in the marketing, marketing, marketing. Now that is worth talking about and is the major thrust of this film.
Here is the rub, however--although I think micros make great beer and the corporations make crap, the American public (and a greater and greater number of people around the world) seem to like terrible beer that has little flavor or personality. So, even if the majors use unfair business tactics, this is not THE reason their products sell. And this is something the film never really addresses. Mass-produced bland beer is popular...period.
While I brew my own beer and have tasted well over 2000 beers, there still were some surprises in this documentary. For example, Green Valley Brewery makes an organic highly-hopped beer---and it's actually made by Anheuser-Busch! Now I knew that these folks made Shock Top and a few other craft-style beers, but at least these say Anheuser-Busch on the label--not so with Green Valley! How sneaky. I also was unaware about the nuisance lawsuits against Dogfish Head--which just seems like bullying considering Anheuser-Busch is so huge and Dogfish Head is just a speck on the beer brewing scene.
Overall an interesting but occasionally flawed film. I enjoyed it and it had some very good points to make.
FYI--Moon Shot's caffeine beer has been retired because the FDA didn't like the idea of beer and caffeine (what business is it of theirs?!). I checked with the Beer Advocate website and it had the lowest possible rating! Apparently it was NOT a particularly good beer despite it being featured in the film and this might be a case where the government, inadvertently, did something to help us!
Now where the film gets it right is discussing how much of the US beer market is dominated by mega-corporations that market the heck out of their products. And, that there is a much, much smaller and less advertising-savvy craft beer market--but the deck is clearly stacked against them. This is also like the soft drink industry--where Coke and Pepsi dominate though there isn't a qualitative difference between the products of most companies. It's all in the marketing, marketing, marketing. Now that is worth talking about and is the major thrust of this film.
Here is the rub, however--although I think micros make great beer and the corporations make crap, the American public (and a greater and greater number of people around the world) seem to like terrible beer that has little flavor or personality. So, even if the majors use unfair business tactics, this is not THE reason their products sell. And this is something the film never really addresses. Mass-produced bland beer is popular...period.
While I brew my own beer and have tasted well over 2000 beers, there still were some surprises in this documentary. For example, Green Valley Brewery makes an organic highly-hopped beer---and it's actually made by Anheuser-Busch! Now I knew that these folks made Shock Top and a few other craft-style beers, but at least these say Anheuser-Busch on the label--not so with Green Valley! How sneaky. I also was unaware about the nuisance lawsuits against Dogfish Head--which just seems like bullying considering Anheuser-Busch is so huge and Dogfish Head is just a speck on the beer brewing scene.
Overall an interesting but occasionally flawed film. I enjoyed it and it had some very good points to make.
FYI--Moon Shot's caffeine beer has been retired because the FDA didn't like the idea of beer and caffeine (what business is it of theirs?!). I checked with the Beer Advocate website and it had the lowest possible rating! Apparently it was NOT a particularly good beer despite it being featured in the film and this might be a case where the government, inadvertently, did something to help us!