I should preface this by saying that it is a bit difficult to piece together a story when the information is coming at you 140 characters at a time. For the last day or so there has been some chatter on Twitter that is of interest to craft beer enthusiasts. Who knows how much truth there is to it, but the Discovery Channel has been accused of canceling Brewmasters, the show about Dogfish Head Brewing, because “big beer” threatened to pull ads from the network.
Knock me down with a feather.
Yesterday on Twitter
Anthony Bourdain tweeted: “@TheAtlanticLIFE See what happened to Dogfish/Discovery deal. Big beer threatened to pull ads.”
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
sponsor
And then: “@TheAtlanticLIFE Big story there. Brewmasters goes–or our ads do.”
@TheAtlanticLIFE then tweeted: “Thanks for the story tip, Big Beer is all over the place these days. We’ll look into that.”
BeerNews.org has been following the story. They have more information. You can read it here.
Know the players
I suppose Anthony Bourdain could be considered an inside source. Anthony Bourdain is a writer and a chef. He is the star of a television shown called No Reservations, one of the Travel Channel’s most popular shows. He is clever, brash, outspoken, and well-traveled. He certainly is close to the action (I think Travel Channel and Discovery Channel are joined at the hip) and he is just the kind of untamed loudmouth that would say something he shouldn’t. God love him.
Brewmasters is a show that ran briefly on the Discovery Channel featuring Dogfish Head Brewery and its charismatic and handsome leader, Sam Calagione. (I just love saying stuff like that about him.) Brewmasters has apparently been canceled. Apparently there is one episode waiting to air—something to do with the upcoming opening of an Italian beer garden in New York, for which Dogfish made a collaborative beer with an Italian brewery. But by all indications, that’s it. I think.
@TheAtlanticLIFE is the twitter handle for The Atlantic magazine’s lifestyle section.
At least one other source on Twitter has said that Discovery Channel confirms that Brewmasters has been canceled. According to that source, Discovery Channel cited a lack of viewer interest as the reason.
It is all kind of crazy, I know. Still, I hope that The Atlantic does some research. If it’s turns out that Big Beer really did threaten to pull ads unless Brewmasters was canceled, would anyone really be surprised?
