This past Memorial Day weekend, I traveled to Bethel, NY to see Phish play three nights at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. Bethel Woods is located on the property that was once part of Max Yasgur’s farm, the piece of property where the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was held in 1969. Visiting Bethel was like a pilgrimage for me, having been quite interested in Woodstock and the 60′s hippie culture since I was about 10 or 11. This post is mainly about my visit to the area, along with some pictures, and what it was like being there, and my thoughts on the venue. I will cover the three Phish shows in another post that will follow.

The Venue

I’ll start with the venue because it’s the easiest part of this. Bethel Woods is sits on a huge piece of property where the Woodstock festival was held. The property includes the amphitheatre, where Phish played, the museum, and the huge piece of land that was the main location for Woodstock. There is a flat dirt spot where the Woodstock stage stood in 1969. There’s also a monument commemorating the event at the corner of the property.

Once you enter the gates, the place is pretty expansive. The amphitheatre is nothing like the standard outdoor music venue. There is no fence in the back of the lawn like most venues. You can just walk around up and down the lawn all you want. In fact, you don’t even have to go into the venue to hear the music. You can just hang out inside the gates. It’s extremely relaxed. The inside is open air with no sides. The sound from everywhere is pristine. I sat in the lawn, in the back of the pavilion, and in the lower section of the pavilion. While the sound obviously got louder as I got closer, it was still crystal clear out on the lawn. The views of the stage are also great from everywhere inside, including the lawn. There are no big screens on the outside of the pavilion, just one on either side of the stage. There are trees on the property that line the back of the venue, but they are also spread around the rest of the property. The vending areas are clean and neat and there was even a stream and pond with a fountain in one area. The bathrooms are clean, and, apparently, the women’s room is staffed.

The parking lots are grass, gravel, and pavement. The lots were nice and had both trash and recycling barrels spread throughout. They were setup perfect for the style that the Phish followers use with vending and tailgating.

The staff at the venue, including venue security, was super pleasant. You felt like a customer, not an annoying concertgoer. They were all friendly and helpful, unlike anything I have ever seen.

Needless to say, I will be returning to Bethel Woods. It was the perfect concert experience from the arrival to the exit and everything in between.

The Museum

The museum at Bethel Woods is a great interactive gallery of 60′s memorabilia, quotes, information, and videos that explain the world and local events leading up to the Woodstock festival. It gives a great history of the times and the culture. Most of the museum is dedicated to, obviously, the Woodstock festival, but there was a good amount leading up to it that explained where the world was headed and why Woodstock was so important. The information about the festival itself was so in depth from the original schedule (that they didn’t stick to) to the interactive aerial map of the site detailing where everything was and what happened in various places. It was definitely worth our while to visit the museum. I thought the $15 was a bit pricey, but felt it was worth it afterward.

The Area

Finally… the area, including the town of Bethel. We stayed in Lackawaxen, PA. It was about 20-30 minutes from Bethel Woods. This area of New York and Pennsylvania is very rural and hilly. It sits in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains (or, more specifically, the Catskills and the Poconos). It’s mostly farmland with some great rivers and lakes. We were right on the Delaware River where there are a lot of tourist activities. The town was extremely conservative, and very gun friendly. It was almost amusing. We had fun, though. The people that worked at our hotel, which also was one of the only restaurants and bars in town, were very friendly and helpful. I’d probably stay there again.

Overall Thoughts

All in all, this was one of the best concert experiences I’ve ever had. The venue was great. The area was beautiful. The people were fantastic. As for the shows? They were pretty awesome, too, especially for tour openers. If Phish ever plays Bethel again, I’ll be there. Heck, I might even consider that part of New York for a vacation someday. It’s just beautiful peaceful country out there… and so close.

First, the venue… It’s in the old Black Rep a few doors down from Tazza. While I had never been to the Black Rep, it was sad to see it close. I know people who really enjoyed that place. I was happy to learn that something new opened up there. It’s a small little space with a tiny stage and a balcony with some tables. It has an L shaped bar with a lot of jazz/Harlem-influenced decor. It’s a nice room, perfect for the location. I don’t know if they have food or not, but they did have a decent, though small, beer selection. They had two taps. One was Peak Organic’s IPA, and the other was a Wachusett seasonal. They also had a small bottle selection. I can definitely see myself hanging out there. It’s got a cool vibe to it. It seems to fill a void in the Providence music scene. What I like about it is that it’s owned/run by the Providence Inner-City Arts, a non-profit organization that holds community arts events.

Now, the music… The band was made up of a bunch of musician friends who had never played together as a group – Scott Murawski on guitar, George Garzone on sax, Lionel Cordew on drums, Gregorio Vento on percussion, Tony Betancourt on guitar, and Baron Brown on bass. They were billed as “Jazz Jam” and that’s pretty much what they did. It wasn’t entirely free-form as they played songs, though I don’t have a setlist. While the music wasn’t mind-blowing, it was solid. For a group of people who had never all played together, they were pretty tight. You could tell they were all great at listening to one another as they jammed. It was a free show, and totally worth it. Heck, I would’ve paid $5-10 for this. I hope they continue to play as I’d love to see it again. Apparently, they’ve played as “Jazz Jam” before, but not all the same musicians. Scott is obviously an amazing guitarist, but I think the MVP of the night goes to Gregorio. That dude can beat those congas!

All in all, it was a great night of music at a great new venue in the city. I got to finally meet someone I had known on the Internet for about 6-7 years now, and I got to see some great music. If you’re in Providence, I highly recommend you check out Roots Cafe, and if you ever see Jazz Jam billed nearby, check them out.

UPDATE: Noticed some people came to this post via searching “jamjazz roots”. I figured I’d update with a link to a recording of the show as well. The links call it “Jam Jazz”, but they billed themselves as “Jazz Jam”.

24-bit FLAC

16-bit FLAC

I’ll start with Breckenridge. It’s a brewery that’s relatively new to RI. I have to say I really like all their stuff. It’s a solid brewery. Colorado and the Pacific Northwest are probably my favorite areas for breweries outside of New England. Everyone hypes up the California breweries, but I think the mountains and northwest are where it’s at. Anyway, Breckenridge has a nice lineup of great beers. I got to try their Oatmeal Stout, Lucky U IPA, Vanilla Porter, Agave Wheat, their summer wheat beer (don’t remember the name), and their Batch 471 Double IPA. They were all very solid. My favorites were the Lucky U and the Double IPA. The regular IPA is an American IPA with an English twist. It’s easy drinking and hoppy enough to please hopheads, but balanced for people who aren’t looking for a hop bomb. The Double IPA is a hop bomb. It’s one of the better Double IPA’s I’ve had – balanced, but hop forward. The Vanilla Porter was also a standout. It had a huge vanilla flavor, but wasn’t overly sweet or overpowering. I look forward to drinking more of their beers.

Another beer I had recently was the Dogfish Head and Three Floyds collaboration called Poppaskull. I don’t know what it was supposed to be, but whatever it was, it didn’t do much for me. It was light in flavor, color, and body. I just couldn’t put my finger on it, but something about it wasn’t that great.

Cigar City’s Warmer Winter Winter Warmer was awesome. I think it’s a Barleywine. It hit me in all the right places. I really enjoyed it. Very drinkable, but very flavorful.

Mikkeller made a Coffee IPA. I saw it on the shelf in the store and actually got to try it last night. I thought it would be terrible. Coffee and IPA just don’t sound like they’d go together very well. What I forgot to keep in mind is that Mikkeller makes awesome beers, some quite creative. This was actually incredibly tasty. The coffee hit you in the aftertaste, but it was subtle. You had to look for it.

Finally, Firestone Walker’s Double Jack is easily the best Double IPA I’ve had, beating out Pliny the Elder (I’ve never had Pliny the Younger, and didn’t have enough Heady Topper, from the Alchemist, to compare it). It’s smooth, crisp, hoppy, refreshing, balanced, fruity, everything I look for in a Double IPA and then some. They’re another new brewery to RI. I look forward to drinking more of their beers. I have their 14th anniversary in my cellar.

I’ve liked Phish and Trey for many years now. I’ve listened to them from all different eras and their current era is probably my favorite. There’s a kind of new life to them that you don’t get in some of the other eras. They’re all happy, healthy, and having fun. At the Trey show, you could tell that he was having a blast playing random songs that you wouldn’t expect in solo acoustic form, like Carini. Some of the others he’s played at the other shows are also odd choices, but work so well.

Even during the electric set, he has a lot of fun and, this time around, he’s letting the band take the lead a bit. He’s just playing along, letting them have some space. The band is much tighter than they were last year. What I like most, though, is that they’re keeping the jamming to a minimum and keeping it concise. I was never a big fan of long musical excursions with TAB, even as a 10 piece band, which is what happened. They’d play song for 15-20 minutes and it just seemed to go nowhere. Perhaps it was the drugs, but I just don’t think it was suited for the band and the style. This time, they’re playing much more loosely, but keeping things concise. Trey has a bunch of great bluesy jazzy tunes that are very fitting for the band and I hope to see some of the style come into Phish. The most impressive song, however, was Ocelot. It’s a relaxed Phish song, but with TAB, the tempo is increased a bit and it has a nice beat to it. Oh, and the horns… adding the horns to it blew me away. I’d like to see Phish take a stab at it.

As summer tour approaches, I’m hopeful that Phish will come back and be a bit more loose and relaxed. I think it will help their playing and the flow of their sets. I think this tour that Trey did will help him not take a huge lead in Phish. He’s the definite bandleader with TAB and pretty much the leader in Phish. But having taken a step back this time around with TAB, I think we’ll see four truly equal parts in Phish this summer. Mike going on tour right after Trey will do nothing but help him take the lead a bit this summer. It’s looking like the summer will be a good one for Phish. Here’s hoping they play some acoustic numbers, and maybe do an acoustic set at the heavily rumored festival at Watkins Glen.

Today (Friday, July 30) is the first absolutely beautiful day we have had here in a while. It’s hot, but not unbearable. The air is dry. The sky is blue. The birds are chirping. It’s the perfect day to sit around outside (after work, of course) and drink a nice beer. Being that it’s summer, I wanted something lighter, but still full of flavor. I heard rave reviews about Berkshire’s new Czech Pilsner and had to try it for myself. I only bought this bottle last night, but it was calling my name. It also gives me an excuse to use one of my pilsner glasses, making the beer look extra special.

The beer pours a nice golden color. I think if I had to really give it a name, I’d say it’s maize. There’s a nice fluffy white head on top, about two fingers thick. You can see the beautiful bubbles rising to the top. Pilsners happen to be, at least in my (usually not so) humble opinion, one of the most beautiful beers when poured properly. It doesn’t matter what kind of glassware you use, they still look amazing. Though I will admit, the pilsner glass adds to that a bit.

The aroma has hints of the grassy, spicy hops and just a slight hint of the sweet malt. Upon first sip, you’re hit with those hops. As it lingers in your mouth, you get the nice sweeter malt flavors. It’s really hard to describe their flavor as they don’t hang around too long before the flavor turns back to the hops and leaves a nice dryness. It’s really hard to stop drinking this one. The carbonation in this beer, though relatively effervescent in the glass, is more mild in the mouth, though you can feel it tingle a bit on your tongue. It helps this beer go down easy, keeping it refreshing. While it may not be huge in-your-face flavor, it’s just the perfect amount of flavor with a nice dry finish. This is exactly the kind of beer needed
on such a beautiful day. A beautiful beer always pairs well with a beautiful day.

I’ve been getting more and more into lagers and kölsch lately. With the type of summer we’ve had, the lighter beers with a drier finish can be very refreshing and hit the spot just right. This beer is one of the better pilsners I’ve had. I see myself buying more of this beer in the future. It’s another excellent beer from a great brewery. I would even go as far as saying that this beer could easily turn your average Bud/Miller/Coors drinker onto craft beer, though they would have to be from New England as this is a small brewery.

First off, the Hartford shows on June 17 and 18 were awesome. They were both a ton of fun and featured some great songs, great playing, and great fun from the band. Going completely on memory, my favorite of the two was the second night. I felt the band had more energy to their playing. They seemed to have fewer problems with the sound system. They also seemed to be having more fun. The crowd also had more energy and it was reflected in the band’s playing.

The first show seemed disjointed. It seemed that the band didn’t know where they wanted to go with each set. I remember one standout moment after the great Down With Disease > Sand when they were jamming out Sand and it seemed as though Trey decided he wanted to play The Horse>Silent in the Morning. The segue seemed abrupt. Compare that with the segues of the second night and it’s night and day. The segues of the second night were patient and smooth. The first show also had Farmhouse come in and kill what energy existed after a great Guyute. While on its own, that Farmhouse was awesome, it took the set to a standstill. The band could have tore it up with the Mike’s Groove that followed had they not dropped, as one person put it, the “clusterfly song”. What should have been a raging set kicking off with Party Time ended up falling apart with that Farmhouse.

On the other hand, the first set was strong, though there seemed to be some sound problems during Divided Sky, which were worked out during the setbreak as the guitar techs were on stage the entire break, which seemed extended. Esther and When the Circus Comes were played for Cirque du Soleil, which was taking place across the street. The Walk Away had a HUGE jam that was completely unexpected, about as unexpected as the song itself. Sugar Shack had a nice jam that was also unexpected. While there wasn’t a ton of flow to the set, each song was strong on its own.

Now when the second night came along, the place was full of energy from the first notes of Fee straight through the last notes of the second (yes, second) Tweezer Reprise in the encore. The first set was full of energy, especially with Possum, Moma Dance, Julius, Reba, and Cavern. While Julius saw some flubs from Trey, who had a hard time with the lyrics, Reba was played with absolute precision. Possum, which doesn’t usually excite me, was loaded with energy that had the entire place bouncing. It also featured the new song Summer of ’89. It started out slow, but was a great ballad. I think this one may take some time to grow on me in the live setting, but it was a pretty song.

The second set was full of segues and flowed absolutely perfectly. The Light>Billy Breathes was beautiful and then the Tweezer>Theme from the Bottom was patient and perfect. The place went nuts when they started Harry Hood and the transition to Wading in the Velvet Sea was beautiful. That song made my wife particularly excited, though I also love that one. The only part that I was a little surprised about was the Stealing Time set closer. I was hoping for something bigger, like a YEM after such a great set.

Then came the encore. I was expecting YEM. It would have put a nice cap on the show, but Trey started playing Sleeping Monkey and then paused to tell a story about a sign someone had the night before. The song concluded with an audience singalong and the band started Tweezer Reprise, which was particularly energetic. The second they finished, Trey says they’re gonna play it again because they didn’t in Hershey. They start it up again and the crowd blew the roof off the place. They had even more energy than the first. Everyone walked out on cloud nine talking about the encore. Rarely is the encore the highlight of the show. In this case, it was more than a highlight. It was the theme.

As you can tell, I greatly enjoyed the second night the best. The Walk Away and Sugar Shack from the first night were my favorites from that night, and I always love a good Horse>Silent. Aside from the encore, the highlight of the second night were the segues of the second set and Reba from the first set. Tomorrow I’ll do it all over again at Great Woods (aka the Comcast Center) in Mansfield, MA.

Craft beer lovers rejoiced when they announced the return of their IPA, Blind Faith. This beer is an excellent example of just how talented the brewers at Magic Hat are. It’s an excellent IPA that I would stack up against some of the most popular (be warned: it’s not “west coast style”, but an IPA doesn’t need to be to be excellent). It’s a very balanced, yet hop-forward beer. It’s closer to an amber ale in color, with a nice body that neither too thin nor too thick.

Anyway, I suggest everyone who likes good beer try this one. It’s not mind blowing or life changing, but it’s definitely an excellent solid IPA. And stop hating on Magic Hat. While I agree with most people that they need to stop discontinuing some of their best beer (Blind Faith, Jinx, Fat Angel, etc.), I disagree that they’re not a good brewery. They’ve been churning out #9 for quite some time and people still love it, even if it’s not a particular favorite of mine. Give Blind Faith a chance. You won’t be disappointed.

The crowd was very mixed. I was actually surprised by it. There were a few flatbrims that I wouldn’t have expected at a bluegrass show, but I’m guessing they were there more for the scene than the music. There were some obvious fans who follow them all over the place. There were the older people, the younger people, but the majority seemed to be in their 20′s and 30′s.

The opening act was the guy from Dispatch. I never understood why people loved that band as much as they did. I never got into them and never really thought they were anything special. They were good, but not amazing. I felt the same way about the guy opening for Railroad Earth. It was a slim crowd for him, not surprising.

When RRE came on, the place filled up, but it was still mostly empty. It was a perfect sized crowd. Since it’s so far beyond when I saw them, I can’t really talk about much other than how much fun I had. They put on a great show. They put on a seriously fun show. I was dancing my heart out the entire time. There were a couple of seriously standout moments, one of them was the encore, Roadhouse Blues.

Anyway, since I can’t really write much else, I will just say this. Go see them if you get the chance. While I would have preferred it outdoors, because that music is meant for the outdoors, it’s awesome and fun no matter the setting.

For those of you who don’t know, Phish 3D is a 3D movie that was filmed at Festival 8 in Indio, CA. The three day festival was held over Halloween weekend and included eight sets of music. On Halloween night, the band played the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street in its entirety. And on the final day, they played a full acoustic set.

To make this easy, I’ll use bullet points with explanations of what I liked and didn’t like, along with a letter grade.

• Song selection (B-): There were some good point and some bad points, but overall it was decent. I think they should have shown more from the Exile set. After all, that was the focal point of the festival. Only choosing four songs from that set was a little weak, though the song selections were good. I would have liked to hear more of the “raunchy” songs. I would have liked to have seen more from the acoustic set, though I thought the song selections from that set were just fine. It would have been nice to see McGrupp and hear Trey tell everyone to sit down on the nice soft grass. Finally, the songs from the other sets could have been better. My biggest complaint is that they didn’t show Party Time. The song kicked off the first set of the festival and set the tone for the whole weekend. It was a big party. I would have liked to have seen Fluffhead and You Enjoy Myself. Both songs were high points with fun from the fire towers in the back of the concert field. The only easy going songs they showed were from the acoustic set. It would have been nice to see Joy or When the Circus Comes.
• Song order (C): I don’t know why they couldn’t play the songs in the order that they were played at the festival, starting with the first night and ending with the last. I know it worked out best showing a set opener first, but, again, why wasn’t the first song Party Time? Instead, they started with songs from the last night. They showed the acoustic set before the Halloween set. I imagine that was to put some of the higher points of the movie towards the end, but that goes into the whole song selection. They could have picked more upbeat rockers from the acoustic set.
• Views (C+): While I really liked seeing the stage, I would have liked to have seen more of the audience, especially on Halloween night. Part of what would have made this movie great would have been seeing glowsticks and balloons flying at your head, just like you’re there. It would have been nice to see more views out from the stage as well. They also showed way too much of Trey and Mike finger work on their guitars during the acoustic set. Why this set in particular you ask? Because they were sitting down with their legs spread and the guitars resting on their thighs. What am I getting at? Crotch shots. There were WAY too many of them. One of the parts I really enjoyed seeing was Fishman playing the drums. He’s the one guy who is hard to see from the audience because he’s surrounded by tall equipment and he’s not a really tall guy. It was fun watching him get into it. The last thing that I have a complaint about is the lights. The lights are one of the best things about a Phish show. I don’t know if it was the editing or the cameras, but the lights didn’t really come through in many of the shots. I was really hoping to see some 3D lights. It also would have been nice to have a camera way in the back to film the whole field of people and the speaker/light towers near the back of the audience. Those are a bit part of the festival experience.
• Picture quality (A-): The picture was clear as day. It was better than any of the DVD’s the band has released date. I was very impressed by it. However, for what they were trying to do, this would have been much better in IMAX 3D. I’m sure the movie crew didn’t have the money for IMAX cameras, but that would have really drawn you into it.
• Sound quality (B+): The sound was excellent, though the bass could have been turned up a bit (no surprise there, that’s exactly how I feel about the soundboard copies of the show). I did feel that Page was a bit louder in the mix than usual, especially during the acoustic set.
• Overall (B-): It was a good movie, but I didn’t feel drawn into it the whole time. The song selection, the order, and the shots were distracting at times.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I’ll explain what I think could have made the movie better. Concert movies are tough. They either really draw you in or really don’t. The one other time I saw Phish in the theatre was for their show in Brooklyn that kicked off their “final” tour in 2004. The difference was that it was a live simulcast. People watching it in the theatre were just as excited as the people at the show. This time was different. It was just a film made at a concert. I think in this case it didn’t have to be 3D. While it was great to see the depth of the stage setup and all that up close, it wasn’t necessary, though, as I said, it would have worked if it was IMAX.

The best parts of the movie were the parts the audience and fans never get to see. I loved watching the band rehearse with the horns and backup singers. The movie needed more of that. I also loved watching the crowd come in for the acoustic set on Sunday morning. That part was fun because it added the excitement of the festival to the movie. What concert movies don’t usually do is give you that full experience of being there. That’s what this lacked.

This movie would have been better off as a documentary. It’s so difficult to make a concert movie out of a three day festival with eight sets of music. Which songs do you pick? What order do you show them? How much of the audience do you show? There needs to be a balance, but if you mess any of that up, it can make what could be a great movie into a mediocre movie. I had really high hopes for this, having been at the festival and dealing with the camera booms going up and down over the audience blocking our view. It would have been nice to have seen people coming in for the Halloween set. Other than the fact that the movie mentioned it was Halloween weekend, you couldn’t tell from watching. They should have setup an area near the entrance to the venue where they could have lights and a camera man filming people coming into the show in their costumes. That would have made the movie and given some people their 15 minutes of fame. The could have filmed people coming onto the site on the first day and setting up their campsites. There should have been more wandering around the campgrounds. There was so much at the festival, I feel this didn’t really capture it, even when it came to the music. Had they included more of this other stuff in the movie and cut out some of the music (they could have cut out AC/DC Bag, in my opinion) it would have really brought you into the festival and drawn you into the movie, like you were part of the experience. I guess if I had to summarize the movie in a word, it’d be flat (kinda funny considering it’s a 3D movie).

I’m not going to tell you if you should go see it or not. That’s up to you to decide. I did enjoy the movie. I don’t know if being there made me a bit jaded about the movie because it lacked that full experience. It really is a toss up. I’m inclined to suggest seeing it in the theatre for that full big screen experience and buy the DVD because I’m sure it will have special features with additional songs and hopefully some of that documentary type stuff I’m looking for.

The movie is narrated by Anat Baron, supposedly from the beer industry (she ran Mike’s Hard Lemonade). She seems pretty knowledgeable about the industry, at least from the perspective of an independent company (even if it is a malternative, or alcopop), but her narration feels like it is better placed in a movie for children. The production quality is pretty bad and the animation used is just plain silly and could have been left out. It just gives the whole movie a very simplistic, and not in a good way, and childish start and finish.

The basic premise of the movie is that the big three American brewing companies (of which there is now one as Miller and Coors merged and Anheuser-Busch is now owned by Brazilian/Belgian InBev) will do whatever it takes to keep their products on top. The advertising is explained from how they go about placing their products on store shelves to how much money they spend on television and print ads.

The movie explains how the three-tiered system works, but with such little detail that they could have kept that part out. The only thing explained is how big the distribution lobby is and how well they keep the outdated system, which is ultimately responsible for preventing consumers from being able to choose what they drink, in place. She breezed over it with such broad strokes, there wasn’t enough detail to explain why the system was put in place to begin with and why many consider it important still, and by that I mean people outside of the distribution lobby.

The movie follows Sam Calagione and Rhonda Kallman with great detail and Jim Koch with lesser detail. Sam is the founder of Dogfish Head, one of the largest craft breweries in the country. Rhonda used to work for Boston Brewing Co. with Jim Koch, the founder. She left and started Moonshot, a caffeinated beer. The best parts of the movie were seeing how Dogfish Head is run and how they fight to stay on top. Rhonda basically runs a beer marketing company. She isn’t a brewer and doesn’t run a brewery (the two beers she “makes” are contract brewed in PA). While I understand her inclusion in the movie for the advertising and marketing perspective, they could have gotten that from a real brewery that doesn’t make gimmick beers – her other beer, Edison, is a light beer. Sam explains how he prefers to keep growth small even though he has investors pushing him to go public. He wants to avoid that so he can concentrate on making great beer rather than keeping shareholders happy. It’s a real story of someone who went into great debt and took great risks to keep his business going strong in the face of big marketing money and legal attacks from the Big 3. Unfortunately, however, Anat chose to spend the most time following Rhonda, for whom I really had no sympathy. Perhaps it was because they both had been in the “beer” industry promoting alternatives to actual beer.

Had the movie followed real breweries who were faced not only with the challenge of running a brewery and all the issues surrounding that, but also the issue of marketing against the norm, it would have been a whole lot better and held a lot more weight. I would have liked to have heard more from Jim Koch and how he grew the Sam Adams brand to become the largest craft brewery in the country. I was a bit surprised he was just glanced over. The movie also briefly discussed Yuengling, the oldest brewery in the country, but failed to really get into details about how they lasted through prohibition to remain in operation.

It’s worth watching if you want a broad overview of the beer industry and what small breweries are up against. It’s not worth buying. The only reason I watched it was because Netflix had it. If I gave things a star rating, this one would have 2 stars out of 5.