Beer Wars (... and a dissapointing Wheat Ale)

I decided to give North Coast's Blue Star Wheat Ale a second chance last night after being disappointed by the first tasting. the conclusion: this beer is not for me. I like refreshing Hefeweizens in the summer, but North Coast's wheat offering had few of the qualities that I was craving. there was little to no citrus aroma and it didn't have that classic banana taste of a wheat ale. this unfiltered wheat's most distinct characteristic was it's yeasty aroma and taste. unfortunately, it was absolutely middle of the road. North Coast was been nothing but good to me, so I'll let this one slide.

the highlight of the night was watching a pretty interesting documentary called Beer Wars. it looked at the command that the big 3 American brewers (now the big 2) have over the American 3 tier system of liquor distribution, their acquisition of store shelf space and how these prevent craft brewers from entering the market or expanding there current position. it brought quite a few issues to light that I had never really thought about before. it talked about how the multitude of craft breweries are shrinking the major's market share. so much so, that the bigs are trying to take back their share by putting out "craft beers" of there own. they usually buy out small craft breweries, shut them down, and then produce these "craft" beer in their massive breweries under the same name, compromising the quality of the original product. an example used was Green Valley Brewing's Organic Wild Hop Lager, which is actually just an Anheuser-Busch product brewed at the massive Bud brewery in Fairfield, California. the film itself was not the most effective doc I've seen, as it had a heavily biased stance to the little guy (which is like preaching to the choir). think Michael Moore, not Errol Morris.

other Beer Wars highlights include the interviews with craft brewers such as Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery. he appears throughout the film speaking of his love of beer, his love of turning people onto his beer, and his hatred of the big 3. Dogfish Head is widely respected as one of the finest and most unusual craft breweries in America. we get a good glimpse of Sam's brewing process and the history of his brewery. while shooting, he was in the middle of constructing a $9 million expansion, doubling his brewhouse from 50 to 100 barrels. this is probably a major reason why we are finally seeing some Dogfish products in Vancouver beer stores. while ever-expanding, Sam and the Dogfish crew maintain the brewery's 'mom & pop' appeal. there's a great scene where he answers a call from a drunk customer on the company's 1-800 comment line. he seems as happy to talk to her about beer as she is to drink it. so, if you're Dogfish day-drinking and have an itchy dialing finger, you might get to talk to a master brewer of a master brewery.