"Beer wars" movie is pro-market

Just watched the documentary "Beer Wars". I was expecting it to be movie about the history, personalities, and business-side of the micro-brew industry, which it was. But what I was surprised to discover was that it was also a movie with a powerful free-market message.

The fimmaker Anat Baron explores the question of why the beer industry has been so heavily dominated by a few key players - Anheiser-Busch, Miller and Coors - despite the fact that their product just isn't very good. Yes, great marketing is a big part of the equation, but she also comes to the conclusion that outdated, prohibition era federal regulations have created high barriers to entry, making it very difficult for smaller brewers to compete. Specifically, she points to the "three tier system", which requires that the brewer, distributor, and retailer all be separate, making it illegal for brewers to sell directly to retailers and consumers. Baron even visits Washington only to find an army of beer industry lobbyists urging Congress to keep the "three tier system" in place because it has served consumers so well. Near the end of the film, she concludes: "Big business combined with government is a dangerous brew."

Not that the news is all bad. The movie is also a celebration of how the craft brew industry has been able to expand so rapidly over the last 25 years despite these obstacles, primarily because of one thing - consumers like their product. Reason TV calls the micro-brew phenomenon a "beer revolution".

See the movie trailer below: