Being a self-proclaimed "Beer Snob", I found Beer Wars to be an entertaining documentary, yet as other reviewers have noted, it is pretty clear that the film maker, Anat Baron, had an agenda against Anheuser-Busch (and to a lesser extent, the other two big brewers, Millers and Coors). Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of Anheuser-Busch and don't buy any of their products, but their portrayal in the film came off as a bit too mean spirited in my book.
The thing is, it didn't need to be. It could have just presented the facts and that alone would have shown what a crazy monopoly Anheuser-Busch has. Things like the law suit they slapped on Dogfish Head for their Punkin' Spice and Chickory Stout beer names goes a log way to show how these people do business. That spoke for itself. But certain segments, like when they show employees from Millers and Coors doing nice extra-curricular activities and enjoying a beer after work with their co-workers, and then Anat saying that she didn't see any of that "comradery" at Anheuser-Busch, was a bit too much of a blanket assumption on her part, given she was probably just given a small tour of their headquarter brewery. If it was an Anheuser-Busch employee making that statement, that would be different, but it wasn't. It was just the film-maker's assumption after one visit to the brewery.
The film does educate on certain aspects of the industry which are not "common knowledge" and those segments are very entertaining. Things such as how beer is displayed in a supermarket and how much influence the "big 3" have in deciding the layout, is surprising. So was the 3 Tier system segment, covering how beer gets from the brewer to the consumer and having to go through distributors.
My favorite parts of the film were whenever it would follow Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head or Jim Koch from Samuel Adams. Being a big fan of both those breweries it was a great "behind-the-scenes" look at how they work and what it took to get to where they are now. I can watch a documentary just on Dogfish Head alone. Very good stuff.
And then there were some segments which seemed to be just for fluff/show. Like the blind taste test of Coors Light, Bud Light and Miller Lite. Initially, this seems like a good test to show that most people can't tell those apart, but I am not too sure what she was trying to prove. All those beers are of the same style. American Light Lagers. Of course they are supposed to taste similar. If you put three delicious IPA's in front of me, I'm not sure I'll be able to successfully tell you which is which brand, since their flavor characteristics are so similar. Same with three Stouts, 3 different brand of vodka, etc. Overall I did enjoy the film, as it had plenty of informative parts, but it could have benefited from not taking the low road and bashing Anheuser-Busch as much as it did. Like I mentioned, it could have made its point without the sensationalized parts.
The thing is, it didn't need to be. It could have just presented the facts and that alone would have shown what a crazy monopoly Anheuser-Busch has. Things like the law suit they slapped on Dogfish Head for their Punkin' Spice and Chickory Stout beer names goes a log way to show how these people do business. That spoke for itself. But certain segments, like when they show employees from Millers and Coors doing nice extra-curricular activities and enjoying a beer after work with their co-workers, and then Anat saying that she didn't see any of that "comradery" at Anheuser-Busch, was a bit too much of a blanket assumption on her part, given she was probably just given a small tour of their headquarter brewery. If it was an Anheuser-Busch employee making that statement, that would be different, but it wasn't. It was just the film-maker's assumption after one visit to the brewery.
The film does educate on certain aspects of the industry which are not "common knowledge" and those segments are very entertaining. Things such as how beer is displayed in a supermarket and how much influence the "big 3" have in deciding the layout, is surprising. So was the 3 Tier system segment, covering how beer gets from the brewer to the consumer and having to go through distributors.
My favorite parts of the film were whenever it would follow Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head or Jim Koch from Samuel Adams. Being a big fan of both those breweries it was a great "behind-the-scenes" look at how they work and what it took to get to where they are now. I can watch a documentary just on Dogfish Head alone. Very good stuff.
And then there were some segments which seemed to be just for fluff/show. Like the blind taste test of Coors Light, Bud Light and Miller Lite. Initially, this seems like a good test to show that most people can't tell those apart, but I am not too sure what she was trying to prove. All those beers are of the same style. American Light Lagers. Of course they are supposed to taste similar. If you put three delicious IPA's in front of me, I'm not sure I'll be able to successfully tell you which is which brand, since their flavor characteristics are so similar. Same with three Stouts, 3 different brand of vodka, etc. Overall I did enjoy the film, as it had plenty of informative parts, but it could have benefited from not taking the low road and bashing Anheuser-Busch as much as it did. Like I mentioned, it could have made its point without the sensationalized parts.