Review of Beer Wars (2009) by Andy G — 05 Dec 2010

As much as I love beer, and boy do I love beer, I'm probably more of a Canadian (as in the country, not the piss Molson makes) beer drinker than American, so right off the bat I felt less excitement for this very well made and informative doc than if they focused on Canadian microbreweries. Then again, a lot of the beer subjects explored here relate specifically to the American beer laws and companies, like the three tier system for beer distribution, a law Canada thankfully doesn't have as it was bred out of the repeal of prohibition, which Canada also awesomely never took part in.

I did like the time the film spent with a few microbreweries in America and how it set up a kind of bad guy, especially in Anheuser-Busch, the makers of Budweiser among many others, and a good guy, especially in Dogfish Head, a company that makes really good brews and is only getting bigger as time goes on without sacrificing its passionate, small guy aesthetic.

The doc wants you to root for the little guy and boo the big the guys and I'm okay with that. I love the idea of people opening their beer drinking worlds up to more than just Bud, Coors and Miller.

The film shows how the big business beer companies are taking a big hit like never before in market shares thanks to an interest like never before in microbrewed brewskies.

To be honest Anat Baron, the filmmaker, narrator and host of Beer Wars, a woman who's worked high up in the beer business and who's ironically and almost hilariously allergic to alcohol, isn't real charismatic or entertaining to watch or listen to and seems like she's just trying too hard to do a (poor) Michael Moore impression, maybe taking his influence a little too far without enough of her own originality to avoid being called a copycat.

But what she presents and the way she presents it, the struggles, the victories, losses and harassment of the little guys in the beer world is almost always entertaining and, especially for beer lovers like myself, the doc never loses interest or drags at any point.

And so, I leave you with the all time best and most insightful beer quote popular culture ever gave us which sums up my feeling not only of this documentary but also of this beverage..."Mmmm...beer".