Customer Reviews

Empires of Industry - Brewed in America (History Channel)

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Brewing has a rich history in the United States and the History Channel's Empires of Industry: Brewed in America attempts to educate the viewer on the history of brewing in the USA, along with the men, the events, and the social changes that have shaped the industry over the past 200+ years. Similar to other History Channel Empires of Industry documentaries, Brewed in America wants you, the viewer, to come away with a better understanding of the topic at hand.

This DVD aims to expand one's knowledge of the brewing industry and it generally succeeds in this area. It offers some lesser- known facts like the pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock because their beer supply was running low, along with some better- known facts, like the rise of Anheuser- Busch and its flagship Budweiser as the best selling brand of beer. This DVD offers a quick overview of the important individuals and events that shaped the brewing industry with an emphasis on the big three: Miller, Anheuser- Busch, and Coors. The majority of this educational documentary is, in fact, a history of these three large breweries with a little bit of information about Yuengling and others thrown in to make the DVD seem a little better rounded.

The historic overview of this documentary is good, but I have some problems with this DVD that prevent me from rating it any better than average. The most glaring problem is the lack of coverage given to the craft brewing industry. At the end of the documentary, there is a brief mention of the resurgence of small breweries and there is some talk about a return to localized brewing. But the coverage ends right there. None of the well- known American microbreweries or craft breweries is mentioned by name. I realize that this documentary is only fifty minutes in length, but at the very least, it should provide some coverage of Samuel Adams. Given the influence and success of this brewery, how can any documentary about brewing in America fail to mention this company? To ignore a company with this much influence is inexcusable.

Several individuals speak in this historical DVD, including a few university professors and some well- known names from famous brewing families, such as William Coors and August Pabst. Each of these men is ready offer his perspective on the history and present- day state of the brewing industry. I like the division of speaking opportunities between historians and industry pioneers/experts because it offers a balanced perspective. However, once again, there is little input from any of America's craft brewing experts, with the exception of Richard Yuengling. There is also one humorous and very telling moment in the documentary when August Pabst is talking about the future of the industry and says that Anheuser- Busch, Miller, Coors, and Strohs are the only companies that will be important to the beer industry in the years to come. The mention of Strohs is quite funny, but what is most telling is that he doesn't mention any craft brewers. He obviously knows about these companies. I surmise that his failure to mention them is because he is annoyed by them, resents the competition, and doesn't want to give the craft brewing industry any credit or free press.

Empires of Industry: Brewed in America is an acceptable DVD and it does offer a good history lesson about brewing in America from the early days up to about 1970. Once it reaches the modern era, the DVD falls flat and leaves the viewer confused and frustrated. Only a handful of breweries get any mention at all and the craft brewing renaissance of the past twenty- five years is ignored completely. The educational aspects are good, but the documentary is incomplete overall.

This would be a better title for this interesting but short (45 minutes) documentary. Even the narrator, Dan Chandler, sounds like a man taken from an old 1950s beer commercial. It's heavy on the business and marketing aspect of our leading national beer brands.

History Channel makes documentaries that conveniently fall into hour-long broadcasts, so most of them run 50 minutes on DVD. This is a shame as this documentary offered a lot of information, but simply not enough time. So much information was left out. (See my last three paragraphs) What I would like to see is either the History Channel (or PBS) make a four or six-hour production delving into the details of American beer: History, production, distribution and laws. Alcohol was a common item in our history and oftentimes beer was healthier to drink than contaminated creek water. Even children were drinking beer to avoid bad water or milk.

Although this starts out with a very broad synopsis of beer's history, the history of American beer starts at around 2:00 minutes into this video. By 10:00 minutes it goes into the business history of the Big Three: Miller (Milwaukee), Coors (Goulden, CO) and Anheuser-Busch (St Louis) and how a competitive spirit developed among the German-run brewers. Expansion was hastened with the building of the transcontinental railroad and the discovery of pasteurization. Although Yuengling, Pabst, Schlitz are also mentioned, they don't get the attention as the previously-mentioned brands get. Descendants of the original beer barons and a few college professors are interviewed for this production.

What isn't mentioned at all is what kind of ingredients are in the national brands. Our national brands contain more than just barley, malt,hops and yeast. Miller, Coors and Anheuser-Busch now use rice and corn fillers (aka adjuncts) to cut down on costs but which adds a sweetness to the national brands. A German brewer would cringe at the added chemicals.

As one reviewer already mentioned, there's little reference to micro-brewing. That new industry is mentioned at the 37:00 minute, and only by saying that they control a mere 20% of the total beer sales in this country. this number is slowly growing as more Americans discover the more natural taste of micro-brewed beer.

This video was made in 1997, and the micro-brew industry was just then picking up nationally as more states made it legal to open microbreweries. What isn't mentioned in this video is that the Big Three had lobbied heavily to Congress and politicians to prevent microbreweries from sprouting as that meant loss of potential profits for them. The cost to open up a new microbrewery or even a brewpub is for many small business owners cost-prohibitive. Some states make it so difficult and costly to get that beer license if a restaurant is involved as well.

Now many of the smaller microbrweries are being bought up by the Big Three. The microbreweries can retain their own brewing recipes but now stocks are shared. And in beer stores the microbeers are stocked next to their big sisters as part of the agreement between national brand and local brand.

The Pacific Northwest is famous for brewing our best beers as that region grows all the ingredients for making natural beer. Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington are laden with hops and barley fields; buying one's beer at the local brewpub, especially in Montana where growlers (glass jugs) are popular. There the microbrewing business has exploded and nearly every town in that state hosts a decent brewpub.

None of the information in the last three paragraphs is mentioned in this video, so overall this short production falls a bit flat of being highly recommendable. At the end of of the video as the "Special thanks to" category strolls up the screen one sees that a lot of money was given by the national brands to make this production.

I bought this video via a subvendor here on Amazon so I only paid 1/4 of what the listed price here is, so I am not complaining. But for $23 or so I would expect a much more detailed production.

Good film about the history of beer in Amercia and a particular brand as the title says but I was expecting for an other kind of documentary, I mean, something more technical about the industrial process of producing beer.

The documentary acknowledges that since at least the Sumerian civilization, humans have consumed beer. However, it goes further to explain how pasteurization, caps, and cans changed the product. I learned of how the Prohibition movement had multiple causes, not just a few, but I also learned that beer companies had their counterattack.

Did you ever see that episode of "The Simpsons" where Grandpa Simpson tries to keep German paintings away from Mr. Burns? In that episode, Grandpa implies that he was military buddies with the fathers or grandfathers of all the men in Springfield. The same dynamic happens in this work: there are young Coors, Pabsts, and Busches present to speak about their entrepreneurial ancestors. One interviewee said "much more simpler" and may need to brush up on his English grammar rules. This work explains why certain beer companies have survived, but it's still amazing considering how companies come and go. (Think of Pan Am, Marshall Fields in Chicago, and many other examples of this dynamic.)

There are certain things left out. The work mentions competition amongst beer companies, but says nothing on the competition between beer versus wine, or other products--legal or illegal. Would the characters in the film "Sideways" like or hate this work? The Coors family plays a role in Colorado politics to this day, but it's not mentioned. Gay activists battled the Coors company in a way only slightly less important than the Stonewall riots, but it doesn't come up. Black activists have criticized all the alcohol advertising in Black publications, but this work doesn't mention that controversy. By the way, frat boys as loyal beer drinkers doesn't come up either.

I saw a documentary on candy and I definitely wanted some sweets afterwards. I don't care for beer and this didn't want to make me go out and buy some. Beer enthusiasts may be affected differently, however.

(I live in the United States of America and my Freedom of Speech is being violated here on Amazon.com so I will NOT be Selling and/or Buying anything from Amazon.com. I will say Thank You for all those people who left comments on my review of the documentary called: The Atheism Tapes which was Wrongfully Removed. I Will NOT be posting anymore Reviews on Amazon.com! I WILL Only be responding to comments and that is all I will be doing here on Amazon.com! Thanks again.)

In this documentary called Empires of Industry: Brewed in America you get a fair history lesson on Beer including the marketing process and Prohibition. I am For Prohibition making me a Prohibitionist because there have been alot of Alcoholic Violence plus Drunk Driving Deaths. There are many people that did not have to die but died because of Beer, Rum, Liquor, Wine and other Alcoholic Beverages. Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch), Coors/Miller and all other Alcoholic Beverage makers combine are responsible for hundreds of deaths. I hate Evil inventions like Beer, Rum, Liquor, Wine and other Alcoholic Beverages. I personally do not drink Beer, Rum, Liquor, Wine or any other Alcoholic Beverages because of Christian reasons and those things taste nasty. The Holy Bible's verse in Proverbs 20:1 says: Wine is a Mocker, strong drink is Raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is NOT wise.

Brewed in America
The History Channel - Empires of Industry

Like most products of the history channel this show provides a very well researched and succinct summary of beer and brewing in America. It does a good job of touching on the entrepreneurial spirit of those who brewed. The hour format does seem to make the show give short shrift to prohibition and the culture than created it. Although the program mentions the rise of the craft beer industry the American craft beer market and the homebrewer community, which are among the best in the world, get very little mention. With those two criticisms aside, this film does a great job at looking at the industrial innovations (pasteurization, cans, refrigeration) that the beer industry pioneered as well as the evolution of the markets from small and local to international. For a more complete treatment of brewing in America, check out Maureen Ogle's book Radical Brew.