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Rating: 4 stars

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All movies seen on 02/14/2010

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Beer Wars (2009)

Directed by Anat Baron

Documentary

Most recently watched by Angjonesy, sleestakk, themarc

Overview

In America, size matters. The bigger you are, the more power you have, especially in the business world. Anat Baron takes you on a no holds barred exploration of the U.S. beer industry that ultimately reveals the truth behind the label of your favorite beer. Told from an insider’s perspective, the film goes behind the scenes of the daily battles and all out wars that dominate the industry.

Length 89 minutes

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

Beer Wars is a documentary from Anat Baron, who helped to start Samuel Adams and also Mike’s Hard Lemonade. It explores the struggle that micro breweries have to deal with in a landscape that’s dominated by Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Coors.

Really, it was pretty eye opening. I knew AB was lame and I can’t stand their beers, but I knew little about how the business worked and the three tier system of the brewery, the distributor and retailer. It’s obvious when I write it out but I didn’t think about it and how it was created to help prevent government control of the industry and monopolies. Instead, it’s really just created them. I found the exploration of the beer lobby to be pretty interesting.

As I was watching this I thought about never drinking anything AB related ever. And it got me to thinking about who was behind many of the beers I drink. Turns out, because I hate Bud so much the only AB beer I really ever drink is Stella Atrois and they were under InBev who had recently merged with AB. Well, and they have money in the Modelo Group and they make Modelo and Pacifico, which I both like.

Still, it’s a well made documentary and gets you thinking and what more could you ask? Well done and very informative. If it doesn’t get you to think twice when ordering a pint or picking up a six-pack, then I’d be shocked.

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