This is a very entertaining documentary about an inherently fun subject. You can't go wrong with Beer Wars if you're looking for a fun way to spend 90 minutes. However, I'd like to mention what I consider a misconception among many of the other reviewers.
The common interpretation seems to be that the movie is bashing the big beer companies, claiming that Anheuser-Busch, Coors, and Miller are destroying innovation and entrepreneurship among micro-brewers. If you pay attention closely though, the chief problem in the dynamic between large mega-brewers and small-scale innovators is not a corporate problem, but a political one. It's not an issue of "corporate greed" so much as regulatory capture which protects large incumbents at the cost of small upstarts.
This is made clear about an hour in, when the ridiculous "3-tier" alcohol vending system is explained. The extent to which the large companies will lobby to defend this outdated, worthless system reveals how incredibly important this political advantage is to them. It's clear that if brewers like Dogfish Head and Moonshot were allowed to decide for themselves how to distribute and retail their product, they would face far fewer barriers to entry and expansion.
This, to me, is the core "message" of this film -- that the large incumbents are not guilty of aggressive capitalism, but rather of politically subverting the free market in order to cement their market share and prevent competition.
The common interpretation seems to be that the movie is bashing the big beer companies, claiming that Anheuser-Busch, Coors, and Miller are destroying innovation and entrepreneurship among micro-brewers. If you pay attention closely though, the chief problem in the dynamic between large mega-brewers and small-scale innovators is not a corporate problem, but a political one. It's not an issue of "corporate greed" so much as regulatory capture which protects large incumbents at the cost of small upstarts.
This is made clear about an hour in, when the ridiculous "3-tier" alcohol vending system is explained. The extent to which the large companies will lobby to defend this outdated, worthless system reveals how incredibly important this political advantage is to them. It's clear that if brewers like Dogfish Head and Moonshot were allowed to decide for themselves how to distribute and retail their product, they would face far fewer barriers to entry and expansion.
This, to me, is the core "message" of this film -- that the large incumbents are not guilty of aggressive capitalism, but rather of politically subverting the free market in order to cement their market share and prevent competition.