Last night was THE night that Beer Wars hit the big screen! Anat Baron had been waiting for this night to happen for quite some time now. A few of us from Core Brewing, “skotmigloor”, “Escape to Beer” and myself “Gile”, made an event night out of it. First off, I would like to thank the gang down at Stone Brewing Company for giving us free tickets to the UCLA premiere event as well as allowing us into the VIP after party.

About the Movie:
Overall, the movie was great. It was put together very nicely and it was packed with a good amount of information. There are already reviews plying around the internet. Most of these are talking bad about the movie. I want to bring one point to mind: audience. If you are writing for a beer blog, then you probably already know how the Big 3 [Bud, Coors and Miller] are like the mafia in the beer industry. You also probably already know about how effed up the three tiered system is and how hard it is for a small craft brewer to get his beer to the shelves. With that said, the audience is: the uninformed, i.e. those that drink the fizzy yellow beers out there. I can see how one in the beer industry might see this movie as just a recap of things we already know, but to someone that may not, it’ll open their eyes for sure! I hope this comes out on DVD, I plan to pass this around to my “friends” that drink crap “beer”.

The VIP After Party:
The three of us got into the VIP After party, as did nearly everyone else at the theater. They had food and 2 bars setup. We were not that far into the line but by the time we got up to the bar, they were out of anything that had a Dogfish Head label on it. We attributed this to the difficulty it is to get some of this premium liquid out here in California [Hopefully Sam will read this and help us out here!]. After we enjoyed out Stone Pale Ale [Gile], Stone Levitation [skotmigloor] and Moonshot [Escape to Beer], we decided to hop back in line. I spotted someone carrying 2 cases with Dogfish Head labels on them! I inquired and was told that they were warm. I asked for one anyways! One persons “warm” is another persons “perfect serving temp”. They were room temperature but the complex flavors of the Palo Santo Maron really shone at room temperature. That wood gives off a magical flavor, the malts really came through nicely. The Midas Touch had a very strong ester flavor as well as some grapes. One thing to note was the very good looking women that were carrying around trays of RIBS! These were awesome! So tender!

After After Party:
We caught word from sources that there was going to be more fine liquids guzzled [at your own expense this time!] at another location. This was Blue Palms Brewhouse in Hollywood. They had a nice selection of beers on tap, cask as well as bottles. I am keeping this one in mind next time I am in Hollywood. It was standing room only, the place was packed so tight, I am surprised we didn’t break any fire codes [that we know of]. I saw that they had the Lost Abbey Angel’s Share on tap! I had heard so many great things, but it had eluded me thus far. The time had come for me to seize the opportunity! I was nearly overcome by the goodness that was in my glass. Few words could describe this bad ass experience. The aromas of licorice and other sweet malts was powerful. There was a huge warming sensation from the ABV. It was well balanced and a power house of flavors at the same time. Highly recommended!

Pictures:

Tags: Angel's Share, beer wars, Dogfish Head, lost abbey, Midas Touch, movie, Palo Santo Maron, Stone

This entry was posted on Friday, April 17th, 2009 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Enhance Your Knowledge, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.