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Academic Video Online delivers more than 67,000 titles spanning a range of subject areas including anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, music, and more. It includes documentaries, films, demonstrations, and other content types. Films in the Boston University Libraries catalog are licensed to Boston University for educational and research use only, for BU students, faculty, and staff.
BU Libraries Search (BULS) This link opens in a new window
BU Libraries Search provides a single place to search for a wide variety of academic material provided by the library. The material covered by the search includes books, journals, scores, video and audio recordings, and other physical items held by the library. The search also covers ebooks and ejournals owned by the library, as well as online material provided by the library from a variety of sources.
Featured Films & Podcasts

Brewed in America (streaming, Academic Video Online)
The history of brewing beer in America from colonial times to the present day, covering the processes involved, the success of smaller local breweries, the mass marketing of beer, and the emergence of national brands.
Craft beer in Japan (streaming, Academic Video Online)
Craft beer is a fast growing popular movement in Japan. Rob LoBreglio, Owner and Brewmaster at the Great Dane Pub & Brewing Company in Madison, Wisconsin (USA), sets out to learn more about this exciting emerging market. With a small team he meets with Tetsuya Kiyosawa in Tokyo.
The Coors Family (streaming, Academic Video Online)
From the vision of a German immigrant to the world's largest single brewery, here is the saga of four generations of steady success and constant controversy. In the heart of the Colorado Rockies, a remarkable family has pursued a single vision for generations. They forged an empire based on ''Rocky Mountain Waters.'' The Coors family has survived controversy, tragedy and personal and professional attacks to become one of the nation's richest.
How Jim Koch Keeps the Samuel Adams Brand Fresh (streaming, Academic Video Online)
Jim Koch, CEO at Samuel Adams, discusses his business philosophy and the company's 'Brewing the American Dream' program to aid small businesses. He speaks on Bloomberg Television's 'Bloomberg Surveillance.'
Uncorked: Brazen Spirits: Bronze Age Beer in China (Archaeology Now)
Grain-based fermented beverages were the order of the day during the great Bronze Age in China. Served in elaborate bronze vessels, these beverages, heated over fires, accompanied lavish feasts honoring ancestors. While we don't have textual evidence of recipes or any descriptions of taste, science and archaeology come to the rescue to help recreate the brews.
Uncorked: Beers in Ancient Egypt & Mesopotamia (Archaeology Now)
Liquid bread, vitamins in a cup, cash cow of the ancient world, beer was integral to the fabric of culture and community in prehistory. Join us for a liquid trip across time to discover why beer was so important and valued in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Uncorked: Spirits of the Past (Archaeology Now)
The development of spirits occurs rather late (perhaps the early Medieval period) because the process required a more sophisticated knowledge of concepts of chemistry such as distillation. Discover how processes of perfumery and alchemy were essential to the development of spirits.
Uncorked: From Gruit to Hops: Getting Medieval on Beer (Archaeology Now)
Today, we're twisting the taps on beer in the middle ages. Connect with brewmaster Lucas Livingston for a tour through time, starting with gruit, an unhopped, herbed ale and shifting to monastery production, court breweries, and finally, commercial brewing. A specialized craft develops with artisans as well as home brewers creating brews with a wild array of ingredients.
Brooklyn Brewery Takes Hold in Sweden (streaming, Academic Video Online)
Steve Hindy, Co-Founder and President of Brooklyn Brewery, discusses growth overseas and expansion plans in Sweden later this year. He speaks on Bloomberg Television's 'In The Loop.'
Green Beer (streaming, Academic Video Online)
Mendocino California is where hops, the lifeblood of beer, have been grown for generations. Brewers like Mendocino Brewing brew dozens of types of Organic beer and we find out how. Then we sample some of those and other great beers at Urban Hop Works in Portland Oregon where they have their own twist on beer. Along the way we stop at one of the largest hop farms in the West to see how they’re grown.
Hamm's Beer #1 (streaming, Academic Video Online)
This commercial, privately published, is about Hamm's beer.
Carling Black Label Beer (streaming, Academic Video Online)
This commercial, privately published, is about Carling's Black Label beer.
Rum Stories (streaming, Academic Video Online)
Rum, consumed by more people in the world than any other liquor, is part of the history of the New World. It was Christopher Columbus who discovered cane sugar, the basis of rum production. The infamous export of slaves to the Caribbean followed soon after, in order to harvest the sugar. This film outlines the history and economics of rum production in the islands of the Caribbean, while alluding to its almost mythic aspects. Rum has been associated with pirates, the Havana mafia, and bigger-than-life characters like Ernest Hemingway.
Rande Gerber: The Story Behind Casamigos Tequila (streaming, Academic Video Online)
Rande Gerber, restaurant owner and entrepreneur, discusses the brand of tequila he launched with George Clooney on Bloomberg Television's "Money Moves."
Liquor in High Spirits as Flavor Stirs Sales Boom (streaming, Academic Video Online)
Noah Rothbaum, editor at Liquor.com and author of 'The Business of Spirits,' explains what is behind a 4 percent increase in the sale of spirits in 2012. He speaks on Bloomberg Television's 'Bloomberg Surveillance.'
Spirit Of The Season: Scotch Whiskey (streaming, Academic Video Online)
This segment is about the unique blend of scotch whisky from the Isle of Islay, Scotland.
Related Titles
Series: : Sunday Morning
Marketplace Africa. [281], May 6, 2016 [Ethiopian Beer] (streaming, Academic Video Online)
As more and more Ethiopians see increases in their disposable incomes, so too grows the country's beer industry and nightlife. Take Diageo, a global brewing company, which in 2012 joined nine other beer companies competing for market share in Ethiopia. One of the major obstacles to growth is access to one of beer's main ingredients, malted barley, much of which is currently imported. However, Diageo has pledged to source 100% of its barley from local farmers by the end of 2017. Find out what that company and other industry leaders are doing to increase Ethiopia's per capita consumption of alcohol.
Inside the Factory: Liqueurs (streaming, Academic Video Online)
Gregg Wallace is in Ireland at an enormous liqueurs factory that produces 540,000 bottles a day. He follows the production of cream liqueur from the arrival of maize to make Irish whiskey right through to dispatch of the finished liqueur.
Agave is Life (streaming, Academic Video Online)
Agave is Life is a documentary film about mankind’s 10,000 year-long symbiotic alliance with the marvelous agave plant, from which tequila, Mexico’s iconic distilled spirit, is derived. Only recently have archaeologists realized how important the agave plant was to pre-Columbian people living in what may seem like marginal environments
Agave : the spirit of a nation (streaming, Academic Video Online)
This expressive documentary explores the phenomenon of the fastest trending alcohol spirit in the world, Tequila and Mezcal. This journey takes us to the world’s most bio-diverse landscape of the agave plant, Mexico; here families have been passing down the tradition of distilling agave for generations, at times, even clandestinely.
Gastropod: Tiki Time!
Are tiki bars a form of cultural appropriation, a 20th-century fad that should offend our slightly more enlightened 21st-century values, or are they a purely American invention that provides harmless, escapist fun? Listen in for the story—and the debate!
Gastropod: The Secret History of the Slave Behind Jack Daniel’s Whiskey
This episode, we follow Weaver as she tracks down Green's descendants and pieces together the true story of his relationship with Jack Daniel. Ultimately, her research reveals that Nearest Green not only taught Jack Daniel how to make whiskey, but was, in fact, the first master distiller for Jack Daniel's Distillery, and thus also the first African-American master distiller on record in the United States. But how did Green get written out of history? And what was his role in shaping the unique flavor of Tennessee whiskey? Listen in now to hear this long-forgotten story that lies at the heart of one of America's most iconic brands.
Gastropod: Mezcal: Everything but the Worm
In this episode, we dive into the controversial, occasionally violent arguments over the definitions of tequila and mezcal, we hear from a pioneering female mezcalera who represents the future of the drink, and we track down a mezcal scientist to shed light on that mysterious worm at the bottom of the bottle.
Gastropod: The Cocktail Hour
Listen to Gastropod's Cocktail Hour for much more cocktail science and history, including an introduction to the world's first celebrity bartender, an unexpected use for Korean bibimbap bowls, and a cocktail personality test based on Jungian analytics.