Andy

I strongly protest your highly questionable comment about me. To say that I am “otherwise sensible” is outrageous and I would argue that my being ‘sensible’ is the exception, rather than the norm, and I will thank you very much for not suggesting otherwise (I have a delicate reputation you know).

Truth be told, I have stopped using my “Angry beer makes for happy people” statement. That is primarily because of the fact that while the statement made perfect sense to me, it seemed to confuse others (and even sometimes apparently make them a bit uncomfortable). I guess some folks just can’t reconcile with the idea of being happy. Far be it for me to press the issue!

Us folks that like great heavy/angry music get it however…nothing like blaring “Kill ‘Em All” (for just one example) to take the edge off a tough day. Add in a 22 of Arrogant Bastard Ale and the attitude adjustment is gloriously complete! Great happiness ensues (at least for me!).

Cheers,

Greg

Will it be perfect? I can’t say, obviously, but the last movie that was in wide distribution about beer was Beerfest. Even if this film is flawed, it has to be better than that. In our lifetime, when has there ever been a documentary film about beer in theaters across the country? Never. So I think it has the potential to be a very good thing for the industry as a whole. Perhaps some of the 96% of the population still not drinking better beer will rethink that decision? I would like to see that happen. We need a tipping point, who knows where it will come from. Just having a film out there will likely mean more attention is paid to beer by the media. How can that be a bad thing?

So yes, I decided not to sit back and figure out how to criticize it, but instead chose to give it a chance. And because there is at least a reasonable possibility that it could do good for the beer community, I threw my very tiny hat in the ring to try to influence its success. If I was wrong, I’ll be the first to say so. But I’ll willing to give it the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. For now, I’m trusting that the message the film is trying to send will be delivered.

Oh, and as I understand it, Ben Stein has no connection to the industry. He was simply the most recognizable name available.

Retweet/tweek/something away. I definitely wish the director the best and would like to see more films on the subject of craft beer. I think 100,000 ticket sales as Jay hopes for would be quite an achievement, albeit one I think would be difficult to achieve. At $15 a ticket, I wonder where the break even point for single day theater sales would be. I imagine DVD sales will be brisk. The self-distribution/single day sales angle might be the most interesting part of this all actually, it’s really quite fascinating to see how new media advances.

And Stan’s right, I’m definitely looking forward to the Beer Pioneers release…

I expect the lovefest has just begun. There will be a lot more lovin’ after April 16.

I’m curious to see it, but won’t stress if it isn’t available near whatever campground we are in April 16.

The production budget and the promotion budget both look pretty big to me, which might give fans of the “little guy” at least some reason to pause.

The documentary project people should be anticipating is Jay Shevek’s “Beer Pioneers.” That’s a small budget labor of love with interviews going back into the early 1990s.

http://www.beerguppy.com/productions.html

(No connection to the project at all – just looking forward to seeing it.)

And in this media-saturated era, it’s very very hard to promote ANYTHING, let alone an independent film.

Your analysis is, however, likely spot on (again, I’ve not seen the film). So — hope you don’t mind if I re-tweet your post!