Today’s beer film is the first of Michael Jackson’s six-part series, The Beer Hunter, that he did for Channel 4 (UK) and the Discovery Channel here in 1989. Since today is the birthday of Michael Jackson, it seemed like a good time to pull out the classics. Episode 1 is California Pilgrimage.
Beer In Film #84: Beer Wars
Today’s beer film is the documentary feature Beer Wars, written and directed by Anat Baron, who celebrates her birthday today. Beer Wars was released in 2009, making it nearly five years old. Whew, a lot has happened in that time. Enjoy.
Beer In Film #83: Microbrewers 1981-1996: A Photo History
Today’s beer film is really just a slideshow to music, but it’s such a great collection of photographs that it’s worthwhile anyway. The book, MICROBREWERS: 1981-1996: A Photo History, features a wealth of historic photographs of many of the pioneers of the craft beer industry taken by David Bjorkman, who co-founded New Brewer magazine in 1983 with Victoria Thomas and Charlie Papazian, and documented the nascent beer industry from 1981 to 1996 before moving to Mexico. The handmade book includes “over 300 photos of the first microbrewers in the United States” and can be purchased from Blurb. I bought it when it first came out in 2009, and despite its high price tag, it’s an awesome collection of photos. The song, by the way, is the traditional Irish song “Beer, Beer, Beer” performed by The Clancy Brothers.
Is Africa The Next Beer Frontier?
The Drinks Business has a summary of a new report, Beer on the Frontier: Opportunities for Brewers in the African Continent, in which Rabobank analysts conclude that Africa is poised to be the next big market for beer in the coming years, as populations and, hopefully, standards of living improve.
I was talking with Chris Swersey (competition manager of the judging for GABF and the World Beer Cup) recently about worldwide beer competitions. As far as we could conclude, Africa is the only continent (excluding Antarctica) without a big commercial beer event with judging. With Rabobank predicting that it will “become the world’s next fastest growing market for beer,” perhaps that will change.
Beer In Film #82: Brew Minions
Today’s beer film is a hilarious, gentle spoof of the Discovery series Brew Masters that Sam Calagione and the folks from Dogfish Head made in 2010. This one, Brew Minions, was made by Dave Thibodeau and his minions at Ska Brewing in Durango, Colorado. Besides making some funny swipes at he Brew Masters series, it’s also a good documentary on the brewery and their making a beer for the 30th anniversary of one of their favorite ska bands, The Toasters.
Beer In Film #81: People Under The Stairs’ “Beer”
Today’s beer film is a 2009 music video by the band People Under the Stairs, a hip hop duo from L.A. As an old white suburban dude, it’s not a style of music in heavy rotation on my iPod, but give it a listen and watch the video. Part of it was shot at the Odell brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado. The song is pretty catchy, and while it starts out with the typical stuff about getting drunk and malt liquor, keep listening. They drop quite a few references to better beer. While they do name drop such hipster brands as OE and PBR, I heard several mentions of craft beer and Belgian imports. See if you can pick them out? I counted nine. Did I miss any?
Beer In Film #79: Megafactories — Budweiser
Today’s beer video is from the National Geographic channel series Megafactories (a.k.a. Ultimate Factories). This show features one of the breweries making Budweiser, and aired in 2007. It was Season 1, Episode 4 in the series.
Beer In Film #78: Megafactories — Heineken
Today’s beer video is from the National Geographic channel series Megafactories (a.k.a. Ultimate Factories). This show features one of the breweries making Heineken, and aired in 2011. It was Season 5, Episode 10 in the series.
Beer In Film #77: Megafactories — Guinness
Today’s beer video is from the National Geographic channel series Megafactories (a.k.a. Ultimate Factories). This show features one of the breweries making Guinness, the one at St. James Gate, it appears, and aired in 2011. It was Season 6, Episode 4 in the series. Even though St. Patrick’s Day was yesterday, I figured even with a hangover, a brewery tour was in order.
Craft Beer Growth Continues Rapid Acceleration In 2013
The Brewers Association today released the preliminary numbers for beer sales last year. I thought last years numbers were great, but the 2013 numbers look unbelievable, and accelerate the momentum for craft beer. The preliminary numbers indicate that “craft brewers saw an 18 percent rise in volume, representing a total of 15.6 million barrels, and a 20 percent increase in retail dollar value.”
Here’s more on the news, from the press release:
In 2013, craft brewers reached 7.8 percent volume of the total U.S. beer market, up from 6.5 percent the previous year. Additionally, craft dollar share of the total U.S. beer market reached 14.3 percent in 2013, as retail dollar value from craft brewers was estimated at $14.3 billion, up from $11.9 billion in 2012.
As for the runaway brewery count, the number of breweries races closer to 3,000.
The number of operating breweries in the U.S. in 2013 totaled 2,822, with 2,768 of those considered craft, demonstrating that craft breweries make up 98 percent of all U.S. operating breweries. This count includes 413 new brewery openings and 44 closings. Combined with already existing and established breweries and brewpubs, craft brewers provided 110,273 jobs, an increase of almost 2,000 from the previous year.
And here’s all of that good news, fermented into a colorful infographic.
