I'm a little late on this one, but I just read about
this story. Essentially, Anthony Bourdain claimed on his Twitter account that Big Beer (I'm guessing he means the massive-swill-peddling-conglomerate-excuse-for-a-beer-company Anheuser-Busch, but I might be wrong) effectively shut down the promising Discovery Channel series
Brew Masters. If this has even an ounce of truth to it, it's shameful. In his press statement, Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head is staying positive about the whole affair but he nonetheless said '...now more than ever – support your small, truly-indie breweries!'
For an interesting take on the battle between Big Beer and the craft breweries, take a look at Anat Baron's documentary
Beer Wars
. Among others, it features Calagione and Dogfish Head, contrasting their business and brewing methods with the 'macrobrewers' like Anheuser-Busch. Miller and Coors come off surprisingly easy in the documentary, but it's still a fascinating look into the political aspects of the resurgence of craft brewing.
the buzz is, supposedly made 'official' by Discovery that: Brew Masters wasn't 'cancelled', it just wasn't 'renewed' ('supposedly' not enuf #s). and, understandable. TV is still about #'s and advertising $ and the craft beer audience isn't going to support Miller/AB InBev offerings so... unless either one or the other had their 'thumb' on the scale... it WAS good while it lasted.
ReplyDeleteI'll definitely be getting the Brew Masters DVD when it comes out (and according to Wikipedia, it is). A real shame that it didn't work out though - Calagione is a great ambassador for craft beer.
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