Review of Beer Wars (2009) by Carrie B — 17 May 2010

Very interesting. Especially enjoyed learning about the three tiered distribution system and how messed up it is as well as the ridiculous amount of lobbying by the big boys.

Here's my beef. Let me first stay before I get screamed at that I DO like craft beers. And yes, I drink them from time to time. And yes, I'm always sympathetic to the plight of the little guy against the corporate behemoth.

My problem is that sometimes the sanctimonious, lecturing tone makes the contrarian in me kind of gag. Look, guys (and you are mostly, not all, but mostly, white guys). I don't drink your beer all the time not just because I am a stupid sheep unable to resist the marketing wiles of Miller (though I'm sure that's part of it). I don't drink your beer all the time for the reasons other Americans don't:

WE CAN'T ALWAYS AFFORD $7 AND UP FOR A SIXER! No offense, but all this language about how "Americans don't get the kind of beer they want, or don't even know what they want" is a LITTLE over the top. The common man can't afford it!

Second. I happen to like the taste of Miller Lite. It's different. That doesn't make it bad. I hardly even compare it - it's a different product. Miller Lite is great when on a raging hot day, and when you don't want a heavy, calorie-filled beer, and if you are, say, throwing a big picnic and want to favor quantity over quality. Drinking more than one, maybe two of your beers generally makes me kind of sick, and not in the hung over kind of way, and I'm not per se a delicate flower, it's just a little hard on the stomach - and friends have told me they have the same issue.

Finally, big companies like Miller do suck in a lot of ways. But they employ a lot of Americans, including a number of them in my hometown. So maybe it was the one-sidedness that bothered the journalist in me. It's not that I disagree per se, but dude, you generally make beer for relatively wealthy people or maybe people who only have a beer like once a year or something, which is fine, but I mean I'm from WI, come on.

I may buy an extra case of Yuengling thanks to this film, but I think I'm going to go crack open an ice cold Miller Lite.