There Are So, So Many Ways to Watch “Beer Wars”
In what might be the greatest malfeasance a beer writer can commit, I have yet to see Beer Wars, the documentary of the craft brewing industry that seems to make its way into every conversation containing the words "beer" and "movie" (for me, that's a lot of them). But now I have no excuse, and neither do you, loyal beer drinker — because the movie has been made available through Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, XBox 360, PS3, and just about every cable provider you can name.
And the best part? Unlike the movie's one-day theater release, you won't have to sneak around to enjoy some good beers while you watch.
2:32 pm
I was not a fan of this movie. 2 things I am very passionate about, beer and filmmaking and this doc fell very short on both in my book.
Why attack ABI for their 'guised craft brand label that relatively no one has heard of and give a complete pass to MillerCoors' Blue Moon?
It seemed to me to be quite clear that there was tremendous bias in this doc for the above example and many others that I'll not diatribe into.
You should see it, to see it. However, I do not believe this was a well made documentary.
3:28 pm
Every documentary has a bias. Period. That is has a bias should not be a criticism of this documentary. The point should be whether Beer Wars presented itself with journalistic integrity, so to speak. It was definitely harsher on ABI, but that doesn't invalidate its criticisms.
4:24 pm
Biases and quality aside, I (Tammy) think one of the real victories of the film was informing people outside the beer industry (and geeky elite) about some key issues.
At the very least, people who see the film come away knowing more about what the conglomerate beer companies are doing to try to prevent smaller breweries from getting more of their market share, including buying up brands and creating "impostor" craft look-alikes.
At best, people come away with a new (or renewed) "Yay, underdog! Go craft beer!" attitude and are determined to change their beer buying habits in order to better support small craft breweries.
5:16 pm
Beer Wars did a better job of explaining and illustrating the three tier system than most anything I've come across before. Unfortunately, most of the people who have or will watch the movie were already aware of the system, at least to some extent, and the people who could really learn something from the film aren't likely to seek it out.
12:47 pm
I thought Beer Wars was only ok. Not much new info. Plus, the filmmaker had a grating personality that, for me anyways, made it hard to watch the film. For my money, the best doc on microbrewing around is still American Beer.
http://www.amazon.com/American-Beer-Special-Paul-Kermizian/dp/B000NVZK2O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1266687884&sr=8-1