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Stone-“Beer Wars” wrap-up
Yay, Stone Brewing Co. Greg Koch, the founder of the San Diego brewery that lives to poo-poo fizzy yellow American beer, brought a ton of great stuff to the Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek Friday night for a dinner and screening of “Beer Wars,” the documentary by Anat Baron, who was also on hand.
Le menu: Chorizo-stuffed fried avocado with tomato-habanero sauce (killer, killer) served with Stone Pale and IPA, oak-smoked chile arbol and cumin-rubbed wild boar ribs in Oaked Bastard barbecue sauce (served on a bun) with Arrogant Bastard, Double Bastard 2006 and Oaked Arrogant Bastard, queso fresco- and poblano-stuffed grilled flank steak with grilled corn with Ruination and 2007 Old Guardian barley wine and chocolate tamales with Stone Smoked Porter ice cream.
One bummer: The Imperial Russian Stout didn’t make it. The Old Guardian, however, was breathtaking, extravagantly hopped for a barley wine. But then, those San Diego brewers aren’t all hung up about being incredibly true to style.
Le film: I didn’t see it when it first screened because I was covering Wine & Food Fest, so…Baron takes a light touch to serious subjects — little guys versus big behemoths, the huge amounts of advertising dough the big boys spend to try to convince you their light American lager tastes different from the other guys (an assertion Baron humorously deep-sixes in the film with blind taste tests), the overwhelming amount of political and lobbying power the Bigs have and the desperate need to rejigger the three-tier system.
Probably not an original insight, but the film is kind of the “Super Size Me” of beer and there’s no question where Baron’s sympathies lie. She is, however, witty and quick on her feet. During the Q&A afterwards, when a guy asked a question that seemed more like a speech, Baron cut the guy off by asking, “Do you want to make your own film?”
Koch also took a few questions and proved to be every bit as uncompromising as his beers. “If you like what we do, awesome,” he said. “We love you. If you don’t, that’s fine, too — but you have poor taste.”
One small but delightful revelation: If the T-shirt he was wearing in one scene is any indication, Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione is a Melvins fan. Unsurprisingly, in a film full of charismatic characters (not talking about you, Augie Busch VIII or whatever) Calagione and Koch basically stole the show.
Earlier in the day at the same venue, Koch (who, it must always be pointed out, is not related to Sam Adams’ Jim Koch, despite the same spelling and the pronunciation “Cook”), along with Live Oak’s Chip McElroy and Kevin Brand from (512) moderated a brewers’ roundtable discussion, with about 40 brewers, sales reps, distributor reps and other interested parties. It was a free-wheeling discussion — the free beer helped — that focused largely on efforts to reform the three-tier system in Texas.
(American-Statesman photo of Greg Koch by Patrick Beach)
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