You're making comments that are factually incorrect. Sam was from Dogfishhead Brewery. Jim Koch is the founder of Boston Beer. And I disagree with your personal opinion. Every week, I see people go to the grocery store and pick up a case of Bud/Coors/Corona/etc..., without even looking at the options. That's why there's a problem.
( Dan, re: facts I state Sam is with Dogfiish and Jim with Boston. , Rob

David vs Goliath in the beer industry? Old news.

But I agree - taste is winning.

It wasn't that long ago when you had to search for a bar with multiple microbrew taps, or a store with a large beer selection. Now, good beer is readily available.

$15 is better spent on good beer.

While I definitely agree that the flick painted the macros as big, bad conglomerates I don't think that it stressed that crafts were losing the battle as much as it tried to expose how the legislature has allowed the big three (specifically AB-InBev) to muscle there way onto shelves (I'm a sales rep for a beer distributor, I see it first hand). I think they were stressing the fact that the distribution system is failing to do what it was set up for in the first place and how difficult it makes it for a smaller brand to gain footing. This is nothing new and happens everywhere from breakfast cereals (as noted in the film) to pharmaceuticals but it's unique in beer as there are many more independent brands out there. You're right, crafts will continue to thrive and grow, and in the end I also believe taste will rule, but the efforts of craft brewers are being retarded by the system. In the end it's completely up to the consumer. As Sam said, speak with your wallet. We do it everyday, many of us not putting much thought into what our dollars are actually saying. ( Well said Tim,. Yes. speak with your wallet is the operative message. The three-tier system,
flawed as it is, has as Maureen pointed out, roots in our culture'.s on again, off again attitude toward alcohol. One argument i have heard for it, from a craft brewer, is that if you remove the middle man, the larger retailer, ala Wal Mart, would rule, cutting pricing deals with big brewers, deals the little guys couldn't afford.. Some folks point to the "micro" beers at Oriole Park as an example of what could happen in the stores Rob )-

While I agree that taste will rule, not everyone likes good beer. People drink the macros because they don't taste like beer, but they contain alcohol. And they're cheap. That means that macro will probably always sell more beer than the micros.

Still, for those of us that do enjoy beer, we have lots and lots of options. As long as we support our local brewers, it doesn't really matter what the macro guys do. Personally, I'm a fan of good beer, and I don't particularly care who brews it. Sam Adams looks a whole lot more like Anheuser-Busch than Clipper City if you ask me, but they brew great beer. It's very possible the big guys will swallow up at least some of the craft brewers (look at brands like Leinenkugel and Old Dominion), but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm happy that we are living in such a great era for beer. My local liquor store has lots of great regional options, and I'm pretty much guaranteed that there will be (at worst) Sam Adams or Sierra Nevada on tap when I visit a restaurant or bar. If this is a war, let the battle rage.

Its Anat, not Arat.

I enjoyed the movie, but I agree it did get repetative.

I learned, I lauged, I scoffed, I cheered. That to me is a good movie, not great but good and informative.

I was a couple Rows behind Mr. Kasper, he left early...before the comentary was over, no one else did Rob.

Rhonda obviously makes an inferior product, she will never have the following she is looking for, its too specific a niche to compete with the big boys. And shes phony.

Sam on the otherhand has found a way to prosper, as difficult as it was for him. I think this film shows how the Entrepreneurial spirt can flourish even when the cards are stacked against you. He puts out great beer, and is unpretentious and honest. We should never lose that spirit as a country, as difficult as our leaders might make it for us, he has found his way through the bureaucracy to build a successful company.
(Bob, thanks for the correction, fix made. Yes I did book when I thought the discussion--mainly Ben Stein--- was wandering and repeating itself. I wanted to get home and start typing, obviously should have typed more slowly. Rob )

Personally, I enjoyed the film. Yes it was a bit Michael Moore-ish in pegging AB as the enemy, but c'mon suing Dogfish for the use of the words "Punkin" and "Chickory'?! That among so many other things makes them very deserving of that image.

I think the craft industry is beginning to make their mark, but maybe not as much as it appears to those who live here in MD. We have a very active craft beer culture in this state that I can assume, based on the movie, other states may not have. Because of the great selection of beers, beer bars and beer events here, I was surprised to hear craft beers only hold 5% of the market share in the US.

As co-owner of a specialty beer store, I was happy that the film delved into the 3-tier system. Most consumers don't realize that we are constrained to what beers are available largely due to this system. I hope the documentary will be aired on television so that others will learn about this angle of the business.

Thoughts on the movie and the beer industry, from a retailer's perspective:

* Just by getting better placed -- at "eye level" and the creating a "billboard affect" -- doesn't mean that a craft beer will gain greater appreciation by the public.

* We often see limited edition craft beers sold into large grocery conglomerates. As a specialty retailer, this is frustrating when we see these specialty, limited craft releases devalued and marked down (sometimes below cost, which is illegal in our state) because they don't have beer drinkers going to them on a regular basis, as we do.

* Retail staff can have a huge impact on what beers are purchased by the consumer. Every day we share information with our customers -- via descriptive tags, discussions, and recommendations.

* For top-shelf positioning, most of the large chains are merchandised by the distributor (generally an A-B or Miller/Coors rep), so of course they're getting top shelf billing! We merchandise and make those decisions based on what's right for our store and customers...sometimes moving things down that sell well...not to slow down the movement, but because they are such wildly popular microbrews that they don't need top-shelf billing.

* It was interesting that they showed a clip with a Costco, then a "going out of business" sign on a smaller retailer. The majority shop by convenience and price rather than supporting local, small business. Not just when it comes to macro vs. microbrew, but also when it comes to small retailer vs. large conglomerate.

* Novelty sells. Stone gets this with their labeling and packaging, Dogfish also does with their 'historical' recipes, Rhonda likewise with the caffeinated beer. Some of our top sellers have been very strange ...our top 5 in 2007 even included the "Hot n Hard" lemonade that was briefly shown on screen during the movie (this product was also discontinued in 2007).

...that said, I laughed when the Allstrom brother clip came on with him slamming Rhonda's caffeinated beer. Their "Respect Beer" theme is one I have appreciated, but know that the theme is really just "lip service" from the Allstroms and many BAers. His clip was flippant and contradictory to their themes used by BA. I always liked that BA marked poorly rated beers as "Worth a Try" as I have the view that if it's beer, it's certainly "worth a try!"

* And I had no idea that the beer industry contributed MORE to politicians than tobacco and firearms. That was interesting, but I'm left wanting more information about this aspect after seeing the film.

I disagree with your premise that the director should have stuck to the message that there are cheap, homogeneous products and unique, high-quality products and there's a market for both. That goes without saying and misses the point entirely.

There was definitely a suggestion at the beginning, with the blind taste test, that light (Lite) beer fans can't discern their own brands and are therefore buying into marketing and labels but the overarching message was that the big brewers are far more interested in profits and market share where the craft brewers genuinely care about making a quality product first and foremost.

The other point that you don't even mention, that made up most of the last third of the movie, is that the big three beer companies use all sorts of dirty tricks to try and push out the smaller breweries while emulating their products at the same time (i.e.- frivolous law suits, copying craft beers, lobbying, filling up shelf space at liquor stores, bribing bar owners with free product, camouflaging craft-like beers under other brewery names, etc.)

As co-owner of a specialty beer store, I was happy that the film delved into the 3-tier system. Most consumers don't realize that we are constrained to what beers are available largely due to this system. I hope the documentary will be aired on television so that others will learn about this angle of the business.

Thoughts on the movie and the beer industry, from a retailer's perspective:

* Just by getting better placed -- at "eye level" and creating a "billboard affect" -- doesn't mean that a craft beer will gain greater appreciation by the public.

* We often see limited edition craft beers sold into large grocery conglomerates. As a specialty retailer, this is frustrating when we see these specialty, limited craft releases devalued and marked down (sometimes below cost, which is illegal in our state) because they don't have beer drinkers going to them on a regular basis and searching out these beers, as we do.

* Retail staff can have a huge impact on what beers are purchased by the consumer. Every day we share information with our customers -- via descriptive tags, discussions, and recommendations. We also invite craft brewers in to act as special guests at beer tastings (and are sometimes turned down by the brewers because we aren't a "draught" account).

* For top-shelf positioning, most of the large chains are merchandised by the distributor (generally an A-B or Miller/Coors rep), so of course they're getting top shelf billing! We merchandise and make those decisions based on what's right for our store and customers...sometimes moving things down that sell well...not to slow down the movement, but because they are such wildly popular microbrews that they don't need top-shelf billing.

* It was interesting that they showed a clip with a Costco, then a "going out of business" sign on a smaller retailer. The majority shop by convenience and price rather than supporting local, small business. Not just when it comes to microbrew vs. macrobrew, but also when it comes to small retailer vs. large grocery conglomerate.

* Novelty sells. Stone gets this with their labeling and packaging, Dogfish also does with their 'historical' recipes, Rhonda, likewise, with the caffeinated beer. Some of our top sellers have been very strange ...our Top 5 in 2007 even included the "Hot n Hard" lemonade that was briefly shown on screen during the movie (this product was also discontinued by the brewery in 2007).

...that said, I laughed when the Allstrom brother clip came on with him slamming Rhonda's caffeinated beer. Their "Respect Beer" theme is one I have appreciated, but know that the theme is really just "lip service" from the Allstroms and many BAers. His comment was flippant and contradictory to the theme of "Respect Beer." I always liked that BA marked poorly rated beers as "Worth a Try" as I have the view that if it's beer, it's certainly "worth a try!"

* And I had no idea that the beer industry contributed MORE to politicians than tobacco and firearms. That was interesting, but I'm left wanting more information about this aspect after seeing the film.

A few great comments already.

I did see the film with my homebrewing friends. If you want to watch something purely on craft brewing "American Beer" is a great movie.

This delved more into the challenges small brewers face with the 3 teir system, lobbyists, advertising, and just a dollar to dollar war with the big 3.

If Bud sticked to Bud, I'd have asbolute confidence in the craft beer market. But as they continue to buy smaller brands (Boddington's was a shock), and also produce their own "micro"brews under guise as craft brewers (like their organic beer in the film), the market will get blurred.

Tiffany, I'm with you- I think BeerAdvocate is a sham and I refuse to use it as any sort of reference. However, the overall statement made in the movie was a good point- the online discussion has helped spread the word about certain smaller brands and spotlighted AB's doing like the organic beer (which I knew about years ago and confronted an AB PR person about- they claimed to have no knowledge of that beer, yeah right!)

this movie was terrible..... I love great beer and brew my own. This lady took a womans prospective towards business. This is the only movie i demanded to get monety back for. where was Greg from Stone? 5 mins maybe. Sam from Dogfish head was good but Moonshot was lame and I hated the fact I had to hear from them for more than 60 secs. But again it was a woman who doesn't even fucking drink beer making a movie about beer??? she worked for Mikes hard lemonaide??? who cares. PLEASE someone who enjoys beer half as much as i do make a movie about BEER..... not Moonshoot and Bud. Biggest let down of my adult life.... Craft brew will always have a spot in my heart. I Brew therfore I am !!!!!!!

( Dan, re: facts I state Sam is with Dogfiish and Jim with Boston. , Rob
Rob, I didn't see the film (was working) but the way I read the column @ 957 this morning, you still have 'Sam' Koch at Boston Brewing. That's not correct, is it?
After reading your post (and the comments), more sorry than ever that I missed it!
Jeff

From an Ontario point of view, Amer-beer lovers have it made. Our Brewers Retail owned by three companies ( and offshore at that ) control the beer market here. When I'm in the US, I am always pleased with the choice.
In Fla, I get to have Yeungling, neat.

Overall the movie did a great job in trying to show the inequalities between big brewers and small brewers, but it was clear that Anat definitely went out of her way to make her points when there was another side of the story to tell too. I believe her movie could of had much more credibility and influence had the documentary been more balanced. Sure it is a total rallying cry for those who enjoy craft beers, but in the world of saints, sinners and persuadeables, the movie may find it falling flat in the way of influencing those in the middle - those that have not formed an opinion. Basically, it was like the movie was speaking to only one audience -- those that already believe the movie's premise. Think about it, this movie was made three to five years ago. So much can change within any industry in that time, meaning the data is outdated. The point about the AB organic beer. I did a quick google on it and it looks like they did in fact have it under a DBA during the test phase to gauge honest feedback (avoid the type bias like the film itself sort of suggests exists for macros). It looks like their organic beer is sold under the Michelob Brewing Co., and noted Anheuser-Busch. Looks like Michelob Brewing Co. is small pilot brewery in St. Louis where they experiment. The other issue with the movie is that it was so repetitive and so over the top about AB that it sort of became annoying. it was like, ok, how many times are going to tell us that AB is the biggest, baddest and evil brewer on the face of the earth. It actually started turning me off and questioning the producer's motive. It tarnished the credibility for me. As for the panel discussion, come on, seriously, how can you say the industry is preventing you from access and growth, when Sam is growing at 50 percent a year, and all he talked about was his constant expansion to keep up with demand. Seems a little odd to me. Maureen Ogle I think had a strong point when she said even the macros started out really small and looked at Sam in the eye and said, let's talk in five to 10 years to see whether his beliefs on maintaining small will be the same. Come on, Sam Adams is publicly traded because it needs the capital to grow. When it tried to stay independent, guess where it had to turn to in order to have its beers brewed....yup Miller. They did all sorts of contract brewing with the macro in order to keep up with demand. Seems to me that Anat totally failed to talk about those struggles and tough decisions by craft brewers when they hit a certain point in their growth. These types of issues and challenges would have been important to add to the story line, and would have added much credibility to the movie. Any way, I did enjoy the movie quite a bit, but believe it could have served the craft beer industry better by being more balanced, more transparent and factual. Because it wasn't, the real issues that need to be addressed in the brewing industry were completely lost since those that can be influenced will see this as a blurring between fact and fiction and end up viewing this as a pseudo/fictional documentary. Again, I think people who are hardcore craft beer enthusiasts will cheer this movie as the gospel. But for me, I think we should expect more from those writing about the industry so that we build credibility and influence; in the end being taken seriously by those that do not understand the industry.

I didn't make it out to see the movie but watched all the clips on the Website and had a couple of thoughts:

- Why did they show it at conglomerate suburban chain movie theaters instead of at independent (or at least small chain) theaters in cities? I'm not going to a massive chain like AMC to hear about how bad massive chains are.

- It would be helpful to see a Website listing breweries that have been bought up by the big chains. I hadn't heard about Leinenkugel, Old Dominion, and Boddington's being bought out. That would be a good future blog post.

- I'm mainly disappointed at how few good local options there are. Brewer's Art is amazing and Fordham, Clipper City, and Flying Dog are good bottlers, but compared to a Denver, Portland, or plenty of other cities there just aren't many good local brew pub options. I'm afraid that I don't rank DuClaw and Capitol City very high and it looks like Oliver's has closed (I still have a Growler to return there) and the Wharf Rat website is down.

- How do other folks rate Baltimore (City and region) brewing options? Maybe I'm being overly critical?

Those of us who saw the movie at the UA theater off Snowden River Parkway in Columbia were treated to audio/video that were out of sync. The sound was about 3-5 seconds behind what we were seeing on the screen. After trying to remedy the situation a few times for the first 20-minutes, they finally rebooted the feed (which took a couple minutes). That fixed the problem and it was fine for the remaining hour of the film. During the reboot, everyone was offered the option of an immediate refund or a free ticket if we stuck it out to the end. I wonder what I'm going to see for free next!

As for movie commentary, I think they picked on AB so much because they repeatedly avoided the director's many requests to meet & appear on film. And it was really annoying watching the story about the Moonshot woman. She had a great job at Sam Adams and we're supposed to sympathize with her because she left to start her own thing? She's not selling a craft beer and is just as clueless as the big corporations about what beer drinkers want. Her & the "fad beverage" she's selling get no sympathy from me!

Rob,I know what I read, and you still have the wrong brewer tied to Sam Adams. It makes it difficult for the reader to take you serious when you cannot differentiate which man started which brewery.

Dan,
I think it's just a typo.
Rob,
Third paragraph: "Boston Beer's Sam Koch and his former colleague Rhonda Kallman."