If you recall, we were the ones who said definitively that the Discovery show Brewmasters was dead. There were a lot of folks who said we were wrong, but we had it on good authority that the show was done. Now we have it on even better authority.
I just happened to run into Sam Calagione this morning at Eataly in NYC, in (of course) the beer aisle. He was there to announce that the construction of the Dogfish Head brew pub in Eataly is wrapping up and they’ll be up and brewing in the coming weeks. It should be open in early June, so mark that on your calendars. He also helped me pick out an Italian beer after I told him about my problem wrapping my head around them. He suggested a Baladin Nora, which I dutifully purchased.
Sam confirmed that no new footage was going to taped for Brewmasters, and that he hopes the Eataly episode (which has been filmed but not aired) will still air in June when the brewpub is open for business. I hope so too, because I enjoyed the show and want Dogfish’s venture to be a success. At any rate, the show is gone and not coming back after that.
But here’s the thing that REALLY kills me – timing is a bitch. Not two hours after I saw Sam, I was reading Anthony Bourdain’s Twitter feed (@NoRexervations), which had two powerful and slightly cryptic tweets:
Mr. Bourdain tells it like it is and knows a thing or two about how the TV world works, so if he says it, I believe it. I know we’ve had a lot of “big beer” news here lately (maybe too much), but I think this is worth sharing because it’s entirely plausible. While I doubt Sam would have affirmed anything when we spoke, I would have loved to see the look on his face when I asked him about it. Instead the timing was off and I’m left to imagine how that moment would’ve gone.
Anyway, I hope The Atlantic takes Mr. Bourdain’s suggestion seriously and digs into the story, because I bet there’s something juicy there. This certainly calls for an expose, because this (alleged) hurdle will have to be removed if we ever want to see beer on TV again. And if you’re like me, that’s something you definitely want.
Update: Our pals over at BeerNews.org point out that Brewmasters and Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations share the same production company, which puts Mr. Tony in a position to know a think or two about this. Good catch guys!
Rabble Rousing Update: Looks like The Atlantic will be digging into things – Go get ’em!!:
Happy Ending Update (9/26/11): Sam tells us that he’s cooking something up with production company Zero-Point-Zero (the producers of Brew Masters) for the iPad.
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Beer & Whiskey Brothers 
How was it meeting your man crush?
He was woozy at first, but quickly regained his composure. 😉
Not good to talk about yourself in the third person Jim. Never a Marcro beer will I drink again!
You mean the “we” stuff? I just do that so Don doesn’t come off as the lazy ass he actually is. 😉
Oh never mind – you’re making fun of the man crush thing. Funny thing is I said “I met you at that thing in Denver…uhh…the…uhhh…” And he was like “GABF?” and I was like yeah – that thing!! What a moron I am – I forgot the name of the biggest beer fest in America!!!
I met Sam at the 1st Denver Rare Beer. Actually I didn’t realize it was him and said “you look really familiar”. His response was “well, I have this little brewery you may have heard of called Dogfish Head” lol The beer they were supposed to be serving had been sent to the Convention Center by mistake and he wanted to have something to serve while they tracked down the rare beer so he actually went to a liquor store and bought 6 packs of DFH. I thought that was awesome.
Ha!
Yes, very cool. And good for him that his stuff was for sale around the corner. Another brewer would’ve been screwed!
Wench reminds you that Sam is MY Crush Mister, so just keep your hands off! Great news break tho dude. Thanks for it. I too had a love/hate thing for Brewmasters. I loved it–can’t get enough of my man Sam, but as a broader appeal sort of show I can see how it might struggle…..however, IF AB did this whoever said “It goes or our ads do” will most certainly be collecting unemployment by the end of today. They just don’t strike me as that stupid. They make beer for the masses and did not get where they are being stupid.
I don’t think it’s stupid to say it, but I DO think it’s stupid to get caught! In the information age, cloak and dagger corporate shenanigans come to light in ways the didn’t before.
I would be very interested in the outcome of this. I thought it was odd of the big guys to advertise during Sam’s show anyway!
I agree – Blue Moon (MillerCoors) was a cornerstone advertiser for the show, so I thought the big boys were ready for a show like this. But Mr. Bourdains seems to think that’s not the case, and I 100% think that guy knows the score.
Now that you mention it…… I’d actually be surprised if this wasn’t THE reason it went off air.
Me too. Bourdain is an inside, a hell raiser and and man of his own mind – I believe he know of what he speaks here.
Glad you had a chance to try the Nora, which is really nice – and I second your call for The Atlantic to look into things more closely; it would be fascinating.
Yeah, but I doubt Discovery would ever cop to it. If they’re afraid of Big Beer enough to pull the show, I doubt they’re going to admit that any pressure was applied in the first place.
Very interesting! Good sleuth work!
Thanks – I just wish I would’ve checked @NoReservations BEFORE I ran into Sam!!!!
A good sleuth with awful timing!
Hoo, boy. If this checks out it’s going to be like throwing fuel (or a hand grenade) on the AB-InBev/Goose Island fire. I don’t think the two stories are necessarily related, but you know the beer mob will…
Agreed Charles. Between Bell’s suing, the Goose Island buyout and now this, it’s making craft beer into some kind of soap opera starring big brewers and lawyers. I just want a nice beer!!
As the Kettle Boils?
I bet ‘big beer’ also broke twitter to stop me from sharing this post.
I thought I did that with this massively important bit of news. 😉
Nice work. I think the truth will out here. Bourdain’s tweets are out there and I don’t think he’s the type to backtrack.
I hope it has legs. DOn and I have TV aspirations and we’re dead if the big boys are throwing their weight around.
Of course blogging about it probably won’t help our cause much…it’ll just piss them off more!
He ain’t no @juanpelota, that’s for sure
I wish Twitter wasn’t broken so I could figure who that is…
Wow, impressive deduction Jim. Brew Masters might have been one of the worst shows I’ve ever seen, but it was OUR show. That doesn’t give big beer the authority to mess with it.
Agreed Slouch. Not the best show (I enjoyed it more when they traveled to different cultures), but it was craft beer on TV, and that was a good thing.
Craft beer on TV is good, but PLEASE use a coaster
“There’s a penguin on the telly”
🙂
I would still like to know if they’re ever gonna put out a DVD of what was produced [either from Discovery or from DFH]
I’m sure they will Randy, just in time for Christmas. It’s a guess, but if there’s money to be made, they’ll stamp ’em and sell ’em.
Every commercial break during the run of Brewmasters featured a Blue Moon commercial.
That raises the question: just who the heck is this “Big Beer” we’re talking about? A-B Inbev? Gordon Biersch? Sam Adams?
Just talked about this over at Facebook, how running Blue Moon ads during Brewmasters is like running DiGiorno Pizza ads during Top Chef. Perhaps they figured out that it made their beers look like crap OR perhaps InBev didn’t have a brand to “goose” during the show back then.
I think the macro brewers conspired to make Sam come off as a complete chotch on the show. This explains everything.
Hmmm…perhaps you’re right there, Commander. Mind control isn’t beyond their powers!
I suppose the Pain Relievaz is mind control as well?
That’s really the only way to explain how it ever made it on the air!!
Throwing up in my mouth was more fun the first time I saw that, when I had been drinking, than just now in my office. Thanks.
Obviously you need to start drinking at the office so you can regurgitate a nice stout at work.
This news really illustrates an ugly side of how big beer works…they allocate so much money to advertising, and so many companies have grown to depend on income from those ads, that big beer can essentially use the ads as a tool to strong arm companies and get whatever they want.
I’m also a car nerd, and the US version of Top Gear has been accused of tiptoeing around the American car manufacturers, who have a TON of advertising power. It’s the same thing really, and not surprising.
My question is, why wouldn’t another company just fill in Big Beer’s advertising shoes? If the show didnt’ get high ratings, then I would think those advertising slots wouldn’t be out of reach for some car company. Heck, just ask Geico or Nationwide to buy up a couple more slots.
I’m sure they could fill the slots during Brewmasters, but what about the other shows on all of the channels that Discovery owns? If Big Beer indicated that they’d be far less likely to advertise on TLC or The Military Channel or Investigation Discovery, Discovery Communications would certainly take notice. It’s hard enough for networks to make money these days, and losing the support of a big spender would be crippling.
I refuse to believe Top Gear America actually exists… what a terrible show… now the BBC show is down right the best thing on TV.
I agree. It’s like watching high school kids put on a play about Top Gear. Although Tanner Foust can drive like a mofo!! I still watch it, BTW – it’s better than nothing, but not nearly as good as the UK version, which is the Greatest Television Show Of All Time (along with HBO’s Deadwood).
Interesting. Everyone loves a conspiracy!
I saw this Brew Masters parody from the guys at Ska Brewing earlier today on craftbeer.com:
Sam C. even makes an appearance!
Cool! And it’s less of a conspiracy theory when you realize that Bourdain and Calagione both had the same production company. Puts Tony in the know, no?
Oh, I agree. It seems to be going beyond the “theory” stage right now!
Cheers man! Nice “scoop” ya got there!
Thanks, Brian. We seem to have a knack for Brewmasters scoops!!
Seems there’s always a bigger fish
You’re right about that. Whatever kind it is, it’s bigger than a Dogfish!
Obviously the craft beer crowd is going to jump all over this, but I have to ask three very important questions:
1) Do we know for sure the Bourdain actually has any information about this?
Given that the source of this information is a Twitter mention to another user, I have to wonder if it’s based on fact or is he just stating his opinion on what probably went down? There’s a HUGE difference.
2) How were the ratings for Brewmasters?
Is it possible that it just wasn’t drawing the huge interest that people in the craft beer scene assume it was?
Personally, I thought the show was ultra-corny. The manufactured drama and over-the-top pageantry of all things fantastic about brewing beer actually turned me off to this show. Having said that, let me point out that I’m a HUGE fan of craft beer and an avid home brewer. I’m very immersed in this culture, and I love (nearly) every aspect of it. And yes, despite my distaste for the production, I still watched Brewmasters.
Still, sometimes you have to take a step away from it and look in from the outside. When you get an honest perspective, you realize that we really are a very small, though fast-growing, niche market. We tend to interact with each other almost exclusively, and that makes our community feel much bigger than it actually is. It can be very easy to assume that because everyone you talk to watches the show, everyone watches the show. Until I see viewing numbers to support this, I have to imagine that many people outside of our sub-culture were not watching Brewmasters. If that’s the case, it’s entirely possible that there just weren’t enough viewers to support the series.
3) Assuming Bourdain is correct, what’s wrong with what “Big Beer” did, from a business standpoint?
Brewmasters, when you strip it down to the basics, is really just a giant advertisement for a much-smaller, but still direct, competitor… One who doesn’t pull any punches when trashing the big guys. Why would they want to endorse that in any manner? Also, if they know full-well that the majority of the show’s viewers aren’t going to purchase their product anyway, why would they continue to pour ad money into a wasted venture. In any other industry, it would be seen as sound logic.
I agree that it’s crappy for the craft beer lover, but “Big Beer” has been called out very publicly on nearly every craft beer forum as “The Enemy”. Even when they try to appeal to us, we continue to shoot down and ridicule their attempts. So why do we continue to get upset when they do things that don’t have our interests in mind? Why SHOULD they worry about what we think? If you think about it, expecting anything else is pretty ridiculous.
I’m certainly not trying to take the side of “Big Beer” and saying that they’re just a simple company trying to make an honest living. I have no doubt they’re using their resources as a means to crush their smaller competitors, and there’s clearly a lot of shady business going on that will require legislative intervention before it’s stopped. What I’m trying to say is that, fair or not, we in the craft beer community need to stop crying “victim” over everything they do. We tend to come off whiney and immature when we overreact to every little bit of not-so-great news, often without much access to concrete facts. If we want to make a difference (and we should), that’s great… but i think we should try to do it in a more grown-up manner.
Sorry for the length, and I just read the updated news. I’ll admit that goes a little toward answering question number 1, but it’s still not air-tight.
Don’t sweat the length – your points were well composed, even if I don’t agree with them! 😉
I don’t think anyone’s whining here, Ben, but we know the score and don’t like it. It makes business sense for big beer to crush Brewmasters, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t call them out when they do it.
Big Beer isn’t doing this because we call them the “enemy” – they’re the enemy because they do stuff like this, throwing their purchasing weight around and trying to snuff out the little guy who is making better beer then they are. That’s not an “honest” way to make a living in my book.
As far as the quality of the info, let me say that I’m VERY confident that we got this right.
First, let me say that I just realized that my comment could have been seen as a personal jab at your site and the articles published here… It certainly was not meant to be, and I apologize if it was taken as such.
I was referring to the general outcry of emotion from the craft beer community over everything “Big Beer” does. It’s one thing to present the facts, as your article does, to readers… If anything is going to change, the information needs to be made available to the public. It’s something else entirely when the community responds to that news with knee-jerk reactions of name-calling, inflammatory accusations, and boycotts (Goose Island news, for example). I think the focus needs to shift from emotional outbursts to thought-out, rational responses.
Also, although they knew what they were doing if/when they pulled their ad money, the fact remains that they didn’t “kill” the show that way. What killed the show was Discovery’s lack of willingness to find alternative funding. “Big Beer” can pull their money from the show, but if the network truly wanted to air it, they could have found the cash elsewhere. Sure, that’s not the easiest thing in the world to do, but it was still possible.
Any emotional outcry against Discovery?
*crickets*
Good points again, Ben, and I didn’t take it personally. I think craft beer fans are having their rose-colored glasses knocked off lately and don’t like it.
But I don’t think Big Beer stopped advertising on Brewmasters and that’s what killed the show. The vibe of what Bourdain is saying (“Brewmasters goes — or our ads do”) was a threat across the entire channel or perhaps the entire scope of Discovery Communications (and all the outlets they own). Big Beer spends a lot of dough on cable TV advertising, and having them walk away from your network would be financial disaster. That’s the bullying I’m talking about – them using their buying power to affect the editorial content on a cable network. I think it sucks. Of course as pointed out by our wise readers in the comments, if Brewmasters had better ratings, Discovery would’ve had a harder decision to make.
And I agree that Discovery should be kicked in the nuts for this as well.
I’m all for conspiracy theories, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that this show was a steaming pile of dog shit. If your beer reality show’s most compelling plot point was the completion of the Steampunk Treehouse and most memorable character was Katrinka, Lord of the Yeast, it’s probably easier for Big Beer to muscle you off the air.
You’re right about that – it’d be tough to bully a juggernaut of a show. In this case, it might have been too easy of a decision for Discovery to make.
Very interesting…wonder if it’s true? I didn’t really watch the show, maybe saw part of one episode…but I was more excited before I realized it was only about Dogfish Head. But I think my beer-man crush on that brewery has waned anyway. You two would have been better on a show like that I believe.
Think “American Pickers” but for beer ;-D
Thanks for that. Don was going to try out for American Pickers until he found out it wasn’t’ about noses.
I coulda been a contenter….
“Well what I picked here is what we refer to as ‘Idaho Gold’ for it’s shape and smooth texture…”
That is certainly better than the New Jersey Green Nasty with Sludge tails. Whew…
A-B certainly wasn’t expecting the wave of bad grassroots PR they’re about to get. Will certainly be sharing this info, with a link, of course. Of course, corporations don’t have the shared love and passion for beer that we craft brewers and beer enthusiasts share. They only have a love for $$$. After all, SuperBowl ads don’t pay for themselves…
Agreed, Jake – everyone’s in business to make a living, but many craft brewers seem like decent folks to boot. Can’t say the same for the global giants. Too many rules to hide behind there – no one is personally responsible for doing awful crap.
Nothing drives traffic like booger talk…
Oh, that’s our other blog. 😉
http://www.pickersandeaters.com
I’m the picker…
I was on the fence between liking and not caring about Brewmasters. Some stuff I enjoyed and other stuff bored me. I would have, however, liked to see more of it before I passed judgment. Heck I love most of Dogfish Heads brews and it was better than Dancing with the Stars.
But the hell with Big Beer! Isn’t the mindless one channel capitalism data stream why most of us have and/or read beer blogs? So we can follow the stuff we like not what some marketing guru tells us we should like! While the production quality might not be the same I suggest that Dogfish Head do their own weekly internet video show. I think we would all stream that and Big Beer can kiss our collective asses!
I liked the show best when Sam traveled and interacted with folks from other cultures. The whole “get beer x to event y” stuff was a little tired. Plus beer doesn’t have the eye appeal of cakes or motorcycles when it’s done. The show should’ve focused elsewhere – there’s so much to cover.
Anyway, I would’ve liked to see the show have the chance to find it’s way. It was no Keeping Up With the Kardashians, which is exactly why I liked it.
I agree with The Wookie (did I really just say that?)
…Isn’t the mindless one channel capitalism data stream why most of us have and/or read beer blogs?…
So here’s my question. Where does CraftBeerTV go from here? You guys have tried it. I know of several huge companies that have major shows on major cable networks who have pitched it and in the last 3months I’ve heard directly from the mouths of people at History, Discovery, TruTV and Food that because of the Brewmasters fiasco, no one will be touching craft beer for quite some time. So, if it’s not cable TV, where is it? If a website funded and produced a TV caliber beer show would enough people watch it in order to justify its expense and attract advertisers (you’d need around 500K-1mil views per episode)?
What say you, craft beer world?
I think for show about beer to be successful, it would have to have crossover appeal for a larger, general audience. I’m not sure a web-based model (driven by vertical niches) would draw such an audience. However, as craft beercontinues to grow in popularity, the numbers might come.
Well done, citizen journalists!
Thanks Zac. It’s fun to break a story!
I watched Brewmasters avidly even though I always wished the show was better. I was upset when it was cancelled and I had assumed it was cancelled because it didn’t have a big enough audience. To hear that it was cancelled because, yet again, Big Beer threw their weight around pisses me off to no end. The problem with conspiracy theories involving beer is that quite often they aren’t theories. Many of the stupid beer laws on the books around the country have their roots in Big Beer money. There are states where you can’t buy imported beer because the bottles are illegal sizes. Other states have restrictions on alcohol content or define the words “beer” or “ale” in relation to alcohol level. Add to these laws the new laws that the Big Beer Distributers would like to get passed (CARE ACT).
I love that line: “The problem with conspiracy theories involving beer is that quite often they aren’t theories.”
That’s an awesome take on the situation, Ira.
It is a pretty sad state of affairs Ira. Brewmasters was struggling, but I’m confident that they could have come around and been a good show for them. I think the combination of a slower than expected start and the threat of loosing a major ad space purchaser made the decision to pull the plug that much more apparent.
As a craft beer evangelist ad nauseum (to some), honestly, the show was a bore. And I don’t think it converted ‘corporate’ beer drinkers to up their game. If they even watched it. That said, the idea that ‘big beer’ flexed their muscles strictly to halt the forward motion of craft beer is somewhat plausible. But ill-conceived. Think I’ll go have a 90 minute…strictly to show DFH support, of course.
I agree the show was hit-or-miss, but many networks are keeping their underperforming shows around and tweaking them instead of going through the expense of launching new ones. I think Brewmasters still had promise, but they weren’t given the chance to find their stride.
And buying craft beer is the best way of supporting the industry – even if it comes at great personal sacrifice 😉
Very well said Jim! Thanks for sharing buddy! great blog!
I am not surprised that AB was behind the cancellation of the show. I work for a small brewery and I have seen first hand how petty the macro breweries can be. There are a few distributors that have had to take down our advertisements because they were pressured by a macro brewery. It just goes to show that they are seriously threatened by the fact that craft beer is taking more and more of their market every year.