Seen these? TV Shows and Movies about Beer

Every time a new beer show hits the TV, I get excited. That’s right – I’m not content just drinking beer. I like to watch it on TV too. And I’m not alone.

What brings up this topic is the recently aired How Booze Built America on the Discovery channel, hosted by Mike Rowe.

It’s about booze in general, but beer plays a hefty role. I saw my first episode last night and thought it was really well done. America’s history is certainly soaked in booze. It also got me thinking of other TV shows and movies about beer. They are popping up all over the place now. Let’s have a look at them.

I’m going to leave out movies where beer plays a supporting (albeit very important) role like Animal House, Strange Brew, Beer Fest, etc. That will be a fun list to do someday, but it’s a slippery slope for this post.

Old School, Beer League…….

So these are TV shows and movies specifically about beer or booze.

• Beer Wars (movie) – You’ve probably seen this already, but if not, it’s a must-watch for anyone with even the slightest interest in craft beer.
• American Beer (movie)- This one you probably haven’t seen. I’m always pimping it because it’s a great look into the craft beer scene nearly a decade ago before it really took off. Fun movie.
• Prohibition (TV) – No one tells a story like Ken Burns. It’s drier than “HBBA”, but if you’re into history you will love it.
• Brewmasters (TV) – The Discovery channel’s behind the scenes look at Dogfish Head Brewery and their creation of ancient ales. The season was cut short for controversial reasons.
• How Booze Built America (TV) – Mike Rowe, most known for the show Dirty Jobs, tells the tale of booze in America in a light and snappy way.
• The Beer Hunter – (TV) These treasures from Michael Jackson are available on YouTube. Old, but still extremely good.
• Beer Culture – (movie) A recent look into American craft beer culture with a focus on Colorado (yeah!).

Some more. A shout out is required to Lew Bryson for his Emmy award winning show “American Beer Blogger”, which hopefully turns into a long running series.  The Love of Beer is one I need to check out.  It’s an inspirational story of women brewing professionally – a film that had to be made. Crafting a Nation is the successor to Beer Culture, filmed on a National scale. The Next Great American Brewer had a lot of buzz when it was announced but things look pretty quiet on their facebook page. Maybe a no-go? I also have to mention The Brewing Network TV Show which brought real-life homebrewers to the tube.

With craft beer going more mainstream there must be more small projects in the works. Feel free to post them in the comments as well as any major ones that I missed.

Karl S

Lead marketer, brewer, dad, and husband. Pretty much an all-round awesome guy. Self proclaimed coffee addict who’s been home brewing beer (among other things) for 25+ yrs. Also an aspiring pro-brewer and micro-brewery owner!