Discovery Brewmaster's Canceled Because Of Threats From Big Beer

[tschmidlin]

@denny

@tschmidlin

@denny

@tschmidlin

I liked that show.

But you guys have a vested interest.

???  What vested interest?

Being a beer geek, silly!

Oh, I see what you mean.  That’s not really what vested interest means, but that’s ok.

[mtnrockhopper (Jimmy K)]

@dcbc

What makes the least sense to me about this theory is that Coors had Blue Moon spots out the yin yang on Discovery during Brewmasters.  I’m not sure I buy it, Blue Moon or the conspiracy theory.

My friend at Dogfish told me that Coors wanted to be a title sponsor as in “Brewmasters presented by Blue Moon” and Sam said “Hell no”. And then Coors threatened to pull advertising.

[denny]

@tschmidlin

Oh, I see what you mean.  That’s not really what vested interest means, but that’s ok.

Yeah, I know, but I was on a 5 min. break from work running on 3 hours sleep.  It was the only thing I could think of!

[onehoppyguy (bo)]

@tonyp

I. Now if each episode was from the perspective of a different craft beer company like Sierra, Flying Fish, Founder’s, etc etc then it may have had a wider range of content to choose from and would keep viewers that were ‘on the fence’ looking forward to the next episode because of hte promise of it being different.

I agree, It can’t always be the Sam Show.

[bluesman]

Yes…and Sam wanted to pass the baton to other craft breweries to keep the program interesting. He insisted upon that.

[bobjohnson]

Back when the show ended, I did some reading on all this and there was supposed to be one more episode shot and shown.  I believe it was centered around opening of a brew pub.

Anyone have any idea of a place to see that episode if it is out on the great big www anywhere?

[dean]

@denny

I guess I’m skeptical of that’s really the reason it was canceled.  What about the fact that it wasn’t a very good show and couldn’t find an audience?

I agree, it was kinda corny and sick at times ie: the SPIT beer. 

[ullarsskald1989]

@The_Professor

(snip) Although the industry has advanced in the years since Michael Jackson’s “BEER HUNTER” was produced, I’d like to see them air that series again.  It was a well made, informative, and dignified effort to elevate beer and show that it’s more than just the fizzy yellow stuff that most folks see it as.
“BEER HUNTER” put it across without being snobby or resorting to gimmickry.   Some of the players (and rules) have probably changed in the intervening years, but the message put forth in the series still holds up quite well, I think.

I’d watch that, could be done with the original Michael Jackson footage enhanced by a “where are we now?” update…

[mtnrockhopper (Jimmy K)]

@bobjohnson

Back when the show ended, I did some reading on all this and there was supposed to be one more episode shot and shown.  I believe it was centered around opening of a brew pub.

Anyone have any idea of a place to see that episode if it is out on the great big www anywhere?

I heard a few months ago that they’re still trying to finish the episode and hope to sell the whole series to a new channel, but its been on hold. I’m pretty sure it’s based on Italy, for the new pub at Eataly.

Eataly stores in the USA

[timberati]

@roguenationpatriot

I don’t if anybody has been following the this story, but it sounds as if Brewmaster’s the Discovery Channel about the Dogfish Head Brewery was canceled due to Coor’s putting pressure on the Discovery Channel.  It would appear that they threatened to stop advertising on their channel unless they cut the show.  I’m continually baffled at the lengths that “Big Beer” has gone to try to stop  craft beer from servicing their niche market.  It’s starting to become a trend that big companies go out of their way to destroy small businesses that don’t even pose a threat to them at all.  Gotta love capitalism.

Anthony Bourdain, host of the Travel Channel’s No Reservations program, tweeted on March 29, 2011 that “big beer” threatened to pull their commercials from the Discovery Channel if Brew Masters was left on the air. Apparently, No Reservations and Brew Masters shared the same production company.

Being a beer geek, I liked the program and even downloaded them to my computer from iTunes. Yes, it was predictable: Sam decides to do something “never been done before” and goes off to search for exotic ingredients, then back at Dogfish the crew tries to continue plant operations while dealing with some crisis, miraculously they pull off the beer with mere moments to spare to accolades from discerning beer aficionados. Nonetheless, it was an opportunity to entertain and educate people about brewing beer. When I toured DFH in August I had the chance to ask about those crises, the three that I asked said that during the six weeks of filming each episode took there were several crises to choose from.

[kit_b]

Whether it is true or not…Would you really be shocked?

[timberati]

Whether it is true or not…Would you really be shocked?

Not at all. It’s the nature of human competition and politics that propels a person/company/nation to try to get an advantage.

[timberati]

@ullarsskald1989

@The_Professor

(snip) Although the industry has advanced in the years since Michael Jackson’s “BEER HUNTER” was produced, I’d like to see them air that series again.  It was a well made, informative, and dignified effort to elevate beer and show that it’s more than just the fizzy yellow stuff that most folks see it as.
“BEER HUNTER” put it across without being snobby or resorting to gimmickry.   Some of the players (and rules) have probably changed in the intervening years, but the message put forth in the series still holds up quite well, I think.

I’d watch that, could be done with the original Michael Jackson footage enhanced by a “where are we now?” update…

Apparently Don and Jim of the Beer and Whiskey Brothers blog were considered for such a show before Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewing took the prize. http://beerandwhiskeybros.com/2010/07/19/how-we-almost-had-a-tv-show-part-1-the-comment/

[onehoppyguy (bo)]

I won’t miss it.