It's been a while since I reviewed a beer movie. Crafting a Nation was great, and definitely worth watching. Next up is Blood, Sweat & Beer.

Blood, Sweat & Beer is a documentary movie, written and directed by Chip Hiden and Alexis Irvin, that focuses on the growth of two new American craft breweries; Backshore Brewing (Shorebilly Brewing) & The Brew Gentlemen Beer Company. It also sheds light on the explosive growth of the craft beer industry as a whole across the US, and the many challenges faced by new start-up breweries.

Check out the trailer below, as well as my thoughts on the film:

At the beginning of the movie, Backshore, named Shorebilly Brewing at this point, are already a semi established brewery on the Ocean City, Maryland boardwalk. The Brew Gentleman however, are yet to open their doors in Braddock, Pennsylvania.

Backshore, already being established are more focused on the day to day struggle of running the brewery & trying to expand in to the bigger market. There is also a very ugly lawsuit hanging over the brewery that has the potential to shut the business down, with another company having using trademarked the Shorebilly name for use on t-shirts.
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The Brew Gentleman's story is more focused on them trying to the doors open and the struggle they face. Alongside that, we get the story of their background and how they got to where they are today.

Despite the contrast between the two breweries the one thing that is present between them both is their passion for the industry, and their passion for creating exciting, great tasting beer. The contrasting locations work wonders for the cinematography of the film; Ocean City being a picturesque seaside town & Braddock, more of a run down, working class steel mill town that is starting to get back on its feet.

The film makers also check in with more established breweries like Sierra Nevada, Brooklyn, Oskar Blues, Rogue & many more. These guys help give a picture of what the smaller breweries have in store for them on the road ahead, and how they fell about the future of the craft industry.

The other point the movie highlights is how threatened by the craft industry that giant brewing companies such as Ab InBev (Anheuser-Bush InBev) & The Miller Brewing Company are, and all the tricks they will try to squeeze the independent breweries out of the market. It is shocking to see.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Blood, Sweat & Beer. If you have any kind of interest in craft beer, whether it be a passing interest, or you are an enthusiast - I highly recommend that you check this one out.

You can find out more about Blood, Sweat & Beer by visiting the link below, where the movie is also available to stream.

http://bloodsweatbeermovie.vhx.tv/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3993730/

​4.5 out of 5 hops from this beer lover 🍻

Browsing the documentary section of Netflix the other night; I came across a title called Crafting a Nation. This was the blurb given by Netflix:
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"Across the country, craftsmen are brewing a quiet revolution by following their passion, boosting local economies and making some tasty beer."

 So naturally, I was intrigued and added it straight to my list. 

https://www.netflix.com/title/80075582

You can find the movie trailer below:

Here's my thoughts on the movie:

Crafting a Nation follows two Denver brothers; Branden & Chad Miller as they build Black Shirt Brewing along with their family. Their goal is to open a brewery/taproom and It goes through certain troubles they face along the way from financing issues to DIY to dealing with the water & electrical bodies . 

Throughout the movie there are interviews with other craft brewers across America - including some big names such as Sierra Nevada, Oskar Blues & Boston Brewing (Sam Adams). I thought the interviews with the other breweries were very interesting and did a great job of highlighting the passion that they all share for making great beer. The amazing thing with some of these stories was that none of these guys saw each other as competitors - there were scenes where one guy would be wearing a shirt from another brewery, or guys from different breweries all sitting around enjoying a beer. The cinematography is great, and the way these other brewery stories are intertwined with the Miller brothers works really well

Overall I found Crafting a Nation to be a very insightful look into the business of craft beer brewing. The passions that each of these guys have for craft beer is amazing and extremely inspiring - I only wish there was more time spent showing the actual brewing aspect. 

4.5 out of 5 hops from this beer lover 🍻

​You can find out more about the movie here:
http://www.craftinganation.com/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2576452/