''Brew Masters'' is a television series that was run weekly on

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

starting on Sunday, November 21, 2010. The show focused on Sam Calagione, the founder and head of

Dogfish Head Brewery Dogfish Head Brewery is a brewing company based in Milton, Delaware founded by Sam and Mariah Calagione and, as of 2019, owned by the Boston Beer Company. It opened in 1995 and produces 262,000 barrels of beer annually. Select brews (includin ...

in Milton, Delaware, and his staff as they searched the world for new, ancient, and imaginative inspirations for beers.

History

The show originated with a visit to Dogfish Head Brewery's website, when someone at Discovery Channel saw the videos available there. Calagione said, "They could see we take beer very seriously but we don’t take ourselves too seriously." Discovery Channel decided the show's premise would be to focus on the process of beer creation and production at a specific brewery (in this case, Calagione's own Dogfish Head Brewery). In March 2011,

Anthony Bourdain Anthony Michael Bourdain (; June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018) was an American celebrity chef, author, and travel documentarian who starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the human condition. Bourdai ...

, who shares a production company with ''Brew Masters'', reported via Twitter that ''Brew Masters'' would be cancelled due to pressure by a large beer company who threatened to pull advertising. Author Andy Crouch later confirmed the cancellation, saying it was due to low ratings, rather than pressure from advertisers.

Episodes

Each episode revolves around the creation and production of a specific beer. This is done by outlining the inspiration for creating the brew, then taking the viewer through the process of developing the recipe, testing it, and preparing it for production. Interspersed throughout are anecdotes about beer making, both in general and specific to Dogfish Head Brewery. A total of six episodes were ordered for the first season. The first two episodes aired on Sunday nights at 10:00 PM EST/PST. After premiering Episode 3 on a Monday night (November 29) at 10:00 PM EST/PST, episodes 4 & 5 aired on Thursday nights at 8:00 PM EST/PST. The sixth episode was delayed due to its subject matter: the episode was originally to have featured the opening of Dogfish Head's new brewpub at

Eataly Eataly is a chain of large format/footprint Italian marketplaces (food halls) comprising a variety of restaurants, food and beverage counters, bakery, retail items, and a cooking school. Eataly was founded by Oscar Farinetti, an entrepreneur form ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Delays in the brewpub's opening resulted in the episode remaining incomplete. While the brewpub has since opened, the accompanying episode has never aired in the U.S., though it aired in several other countries, including on DMAX in Germany, where it was titled "3 Biere für Batali". The Season 1 DVD of the series was released in June 2011, and includes the previously unaired "3 Beers For Batali" episode.

Amazon Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pri ...

offers the first season for download, but this version does not include the unaired sixth episode.

References

External links

* {{Discovery Channel programming Discovery Channel original programming 2010 American television series debuts 2010 American television series endings Works about beer