When I was seeking recommendations for this project, "Beer Wars" was one of the most commonly suggested titles. The suggestion was also usually followed with some variation of this: "'Beer Wars' will change the way you drink beer."

But what if 98 percent of the beer I drink is already craft beers (which is, if you'll allow me this, the protagonist of "Beer Wars")? What if I'm already familiar with most of why Budweiser, Miller Lite and Coors (the antagonists of "Beer Wars") dominate the beer market? What if I'm already familiar with the history of craft brewers like Stone, Dogfish and others?

If you're like me, if you love beer, good beer, and you're fascinated by beer culture in America, you'll still enjoy "Beer Wars." You just might not get as much out of it as the typical viewer (even though I really have no idea who the typical viewer for "Beer Wars" should be).

I'll tell you who I think the perfect target audience is for "Beer Wars," though. It's you. The average college student. Sure, money's tight and cheap booze is prevalent as always on college campuses. It's hard to pass up $1 beers even if it tastes like water.

College students, unlike their older beer drinking peers, are, perhaps, a little more likely to not be set on a particular brand of beer, and, thus, more open to trying new beers. And knowing Columbus' beer scene like I do, there are plenty of establishments close to campus that offer incredibly affordable happy hour specials on craft brews. You need look no further than UWeekly's very own pages to see advertisements from some of these establishments or even stories highlighting some pretty kick-ass events.

All that aside, "Beer Wars" takes a popular tact in documentaries by training its lens on corporate America. Particularly, the film examines the big three breweries' monopoly on the beer market in the United States. It does this primarily through featuring the Big Three's powerful group of lobbyists (one of the largest and most powerful in the country, no less) and how these people influence lawmakers, other industries, like sports (through sponsorships) and even the very distribution method that was devised after prohibition to create a checks and balances system similar to the U.S. government's executive, legislative and judicial branches.

The film, written, directed and narrated by Anat Baron, former head of Mike's Hard Lemonade, shows this on an individual level by following Rhonda Kallman, co-founder of Sam Adams, as she attempts to start a new beer company, New Century Brewing Company.

Kallman, more specifically, is attempting to launch Moonshot, a caffeinated beer, but keeps running into difficulties getting the beer on shelves at gas stations, grocery stores and elsewhere. (Kallman left the beer industry after "Beer Wars" came out because the FDA essentially banned her beer because it contained caffeine — Four Loko anyone? After watching "Beer Wars" it makes you wonder whether the Big Three's lobbyists had anything to do with this.)

Contrasting Kallman's failures is the success of Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Brewery, who is also one of the "Beer Wars" most likable personalities. "Beer Wars" focuses on Calagione as he retraces the launching of his company and its continued expansion.

But it's not all sunshine and roses for Calagione. His Punkin' Ale and Chicory Stout have been targeted by one of the Big Three in a Cease and Desist letter. The letter claims the words "punkin'" and "chicory" are too generic and can't be used in his beers' names. Later, we learn that one of the Big Three has also started releasing their own version sof craft beers that not only rip off some of Dogfish's beers, but also were done almost solely as a way of taking up the market space Dogfish currently has.

It's this move that's mostly featured in "Beer Wars." Another fascinating scene showcasing how the Big Three try to run others out of the market depicts the way shelf space is allocated in grocery stores and other retail establishments.

Have you ever wondered by the Big Three have so many products, from Budweiser to Bud Ice to Bud Light to Bud Select to Miller Lime to Miller High Life to Miller Lite, etc etc etc? Mostly, the film says, it's to take up shelf space.

The next time you go to the store for beer see if you don't notice just how large of an imprint these beers leave, and if that doesn't turn you off, even just a little, you might be a macro brew drinker the rest of your life.

Watched:

Day 1: "The Union: The Business Behind Getting You High"

Day 2: "Pearl Jam 20"

Day 3: "My Winnipeg"

Day 4: "180 Degrees South"

Day 5: "Restrepo"

Day 6: "The Business of Being Born"

Day 7: "Beer Wars"

Still to come:

"Heavy Metal in Baghdad"

"Hoop Dreams"

"Man on Wire"

"Sweetgrass"

"Touching the Void"

"The Cove"

"Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child"

"Exit Through the Gift Shop"

"Encounters at the End of the World"

"The Garden"

"Wild China"

"Blindsight"

"Up the Yangtze"

"Microcosms"

"Marwencol"

"No Impact Man"

"The Pixar Story"

"Capitalism: A Love Story"

"Waiting for Superman"

"Waste Land"

"Who Killed The Electric Car"

"The Future of Food"

"Gonzo"

"Biggie and Tupac"

"We Live in Public"

"Examined Life"

"God Grew Tired of Us"

"The Thin Blue Line"

"Troubled Water"

"Dark Days"

"Paris is Burning"

"Page One"

"Which Way Home"