On Thursday, Dec. 15, Nashville took another small step in its collective beer education. Yazoo Brewing Company hosted a screening of the documentary film “Beer Wars” at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville. Following the film, four members of the Nashville beer industry fielded questions in a discussion about the business of beer.
“Beer Wars,” a 2009 film directed by onetime beer industry exec Anat Baron, examines the plight of craft brewers as they try to carve market share away from powerful corporations like Anheuser-Busch. It’s a story not unlike Walmart vs. “mom and pop” stores or countless other David vs. Goliath tales. But for those interested in beer, the film can be revelatory in some respects. The legal and political sway of “Big Beer”—in other words, MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch InBev—is outlined; rather than being responsive and flexible in a rapidly changing industry, the behemoth corporations are portrayed as using their huge sums of money to preserve antiquated laws, entangle craft brewers in legal challenges, and hammer the consumer with advertising. If you’ve yet to see the documentary, you should do so. It’s available via Netflix streaming and other on-demand options, or you can purchase a hard copy at the “Beer Wars” website.
For a film that can leave craft beer enthusiasts frustrated and fired up after seeing it, the 34-minute discussion that followed was remarkably tame. Undoubtedly that was because all four members of the panel were on the same side of the battle—craft beer proponents—and all have existing working relationships. The Q-and-A was moderated by Yazoo’s sales and marketing manager, Neil McCormick, and featured representatives from a brewery (Yazoo brewmaster Linus Hall), a distributorship (Lipman’s market sales manager for beer, Derek Petrella), a retail store (Whole Foods beer buyer Bryan Bergmann) and a restaurant/bar (Josef Gutzmirtl, formerly with the Flying Saucer and now senior director of operations with Beyond the Edge and other area establishments).
Whole Foods beer buyer Bryan Bergmann had the line of the night while sharing his dream of eventually writing a break-up letter to the big beer conglomerates:
“It’s not you, it’s us.”
Discussion centered on how the Nashville market has grown as a craft beer community. Hall described how an aspect of Tennessee’s alcohol laws allows brewers to self-distribute in the county in which they are based. (Typically a distributor is required by law to serve as middle man between a brewery and retailers, creating the “three-tier system.”) He recounted loading up his pickup truck with his beer in Yazoo’s early days (eight years ago), trying to secure taps at area bars and restaurants. Gutzmirtl, at the Flying Saucer at the time, was among the first to pour Yazoo for the public. After one year, Yazoo inked a deal with Lipman and turned over distribution.
Bergmann, who brought beer taps and the refillable growler program to area Whole Foods Markets, had the line of the night while sharing his dream of eventually writing a break-up letter to the big beer conglomerates: “It’s not you, it’s us,” he said to audience laughter and applause. He stated that that time is not here yet, but the trend is heading in that direction: Perception has changed among consumers, he said, and beer shoppers are increasingly willing to pay a few dollars extra for more flavor.
While the summary of how far Nashville and Yazoo have come in terms of craft beer was mildly interesting, discussion never touched on some of the more pressing matters facing craft brewers in the state. For that, Hall is involved in the formation of a Tennessee Brewers Guild. I spoke to Hall briefly about the guild at the conclusion of the Belcourt event, and he indicated that though the group is now being established, there will likely be a two- to three-year period of fundraising before the guild can afford to lobby the state legislature. He expressed his frustration that changes to state beer laws were proposed by legislators in May with no input from Tennessee breweries. He said that can’t happen again.
In 2012, I aim to talk to members of the new state brewers guild for this blog, share their list of priorities and highlight where their goals coincide with the wishes of the average craft beer consumer. As Tennessee develops its craft beer culture, education—through events like Thursday’s “Beer Wars” screening and discussion, or through the shared resources of a brewers guild—is crucial to building a tight-knit community that can work together to affect change.
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