Beer Wars (2009)

Directed by: Anat Baron

**1/2

I'm not really sure what Anat Baron was trying to say in her documentary Beer Wars. Maybe it was that big businesses hurt the American working man. Maybe its that the bigger the business the worse the product. I really don't know. This documentary lacked specifics and at times direction. However, what it did provide is some interesting information and even if some of that information was already kind of common knowledge, and even if some of it didn't seem relevant towards any type of cause or message, most of it was still interesting and that's what made Beer Wars an interesting documentary.

Anat Baron did her best Michael Moore impression while making this film and tried to star in it. Fortunately, there wasn't quite enough for her to do so she was never really in the way. The highlight of this informational video was the interviews she conducted with several independent brewery founders all over the country. These men and women, once upon a time, struggled to compete with Coors, Miller and Busch and while they still compete, I'm not sure they still struggle. I admit I know a little more about the beer industry than the average Joe but I'm far from an expert. The little that I do know however, allows me to suggest that this film would have been much more suitable for release maybe ten years ago. This isn't to suggest that big business doesn't continue to have a stranglehold on American consumers. It is to suggest that people know are fully aware that they get what they pay for.

Not every independent brewery is Sam Adams of Dogfish Head. These are probably the exceptions rather than the rule. Co-founder of Sam Adams and now CEO of the barely functioning New Century Brewing Company Rhonda Kallman experiences the everyday struggle of financing her business and getting her product to consumers. However, put one of her beers in front of someone and have that person choose between her Moonshot beer and a Bud Light... people may be inclined to try hers. Its no different than putting a good burger in front of someone next to a McDonald's cheese burger. If they have to pay $1 or $9, they might pick McDonald's but if they want a good burger, they'll take the other one. In short, people know they are drinking an inferior product when they choose Bud, Coors, and Miller but its an issue of cost.

Beer Wars is quick to point out that the craft brewing industry is on the rise in America. It can't and won't ever compete with the mass production by the major breweries but I'm not sure its trying to. If it were, it'd be easy enough to sell the rights to their product and slap an Anhauser-Busch label on the side of their six-packs. They are in the business of making good beer. They are more comparable to artists, than entrepanuers. They are the indie world of film, not Hollywood. This isn't to say that Sam Calagione wouldn't like it if people bought cases of Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA for their Superbowl parties, but it's like more important to him if a few people enjoy what they are drinking when they spend $12 on a six-pack. It all comes back to, we get what we pay for and this is something that American consumers understand in this day and age better than anything.

Had this film been released in a time when people were still being duped by clidesdales into thinking that its classy to drink Budweiser, I think there would have been a better message here. Instead, its almost like there has been two seperate industries created. Yes, they compete in some sense, but they also have different markets. Like I said, this film has some interesting information but it fails to cross the treshold into complete documentary. Relaying a message that isn't there makes you seem biased. This film isn't biased as it has the opinions from several different sources, but I kept asking myself, what are they arguing about?