Re: [mba] Beer Wars movie

Here are a few thoughts I typed up for the long Beer Wars thread on Beer Advocate. It is probably more than you wanted but what you wanted is in the first bit. :) -I too was in Roseville MN where we lost the picture (very dim) with about 20 min left, and lost ALL of the picture about half way through the discussion. We got our $15 back and a movie pass for another day. The turnout seemed decent, probably ~ 60. -Documentaries often have a specific agenda. This is one of those. The agenda seems to be to expose the shenanigans of the big two/three, and to illustrate the difficulties of smaller brewers getting their beers to market. It wasn't to be a documentary of the rise of craft beer. -Anat may have a crush on Sam. ;) -When those distributor fellas (3 of them in suits) were walking in a shadowy way in that warehouse, I instantly thought of the mafia. Ben Stein's "horse head" comment showed he was thinking the same thing. -More research into the lobbying and how that affects smaller brewers would be interesting. She spent a little time on that but probably didn't want to slow down the pace too much. That and how difficult the 3-Tier system is for the little guys were a couple eye opening moments for me. -I appreciated the pictures of shelf space layout and how that influences consumers and how the big brewers do things to monopolize shelf space, even creating knock offs of other brands to take up the space that a smaller brand already has. -If you don't like Ogle's comments on capitalism, you don't have a problem with Ogle, you have a problem with capitalism. It's ok. It is not always the best economic system, but it is what we have to work with. I thought her lumping Microsoft and WalMart and AB together was interesting. She doesn't like vast control in the hands of few, and I think most people have some sympathy with that view. -Charlie was awesome. What person on earth does not like the guy? -Some states do not have the 3 Tier system and allow breweries to get their beer directly to the people? Also to grocery and liquor stores? She mentioned CA and CO. If this is true, is it a future battle for state by state change? This could have been flushed out much more and I think is one of her "action points" that she wants us to walk away with. -As for the problem many of you have with Rhonda and the Moon Shot story, another way to look at it is her story will appeal to a broader group of beer drinking Americans. Remember, we are in the vast minority. If some non craft beer lover sees the film they might have more sympathy with her and her situation than they would with Joe Schmoe and his desire to start up a brewery to make Imperial IPA's with his buddies. It's a good effort. It has us talking and hopefully it will have more people talking in the months to come. cheers don ____________________________________________________________ Online Stock Trading - Straightforward pricing. Powerful tools. Click here! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTFOsYMPEmrcR4A5wR6cBDAm0d…