The Michigan Beer Film

When you head to the bar nowadays there are so many more beer choices than you had a few years ago. It's not just some form of Miller, Budweiser, and in some cases if you're lucky, Guiness. We have so many more beer choices than our parents did. IPAs, Stouts, Hefeweizens, the choices are endless! Since craft beers have become more popular, more and more bars are carrying a vast selection of brews, many of which pride themselves on how many taps they have. But, here in Michigan, not only are we fortunate enough to have some bars with amazing drink options, but we have several breweries where we can go right to the source for the delicious beverages.

This is exactly the topic that a crew from Rhino Media Productions decided to cover in their recently released documentary, The Michigan Beer Film. With over 135 craft breweries popping up in Michigan, they realized this amazing revitalized form of entrepreneurship is taking our state by storm. Not only are breweries popping up everywhere, but people love craft beers! I know that I myself have many friends that have become beer snobs, and rightfully so! With so many great beers being produced, why stick to the same boring beers of the past?

The Michigan Beer Film spent over a year traveling around the state checking out all of the great breweries and beer festivals. I had a chance to see the finished product this past Thursday at the Detroit premiere of the film at The Fillmore. It was awesome! Full of real life characters, great shots of Michigan, and some great tunes, this film not only captured the craft beer fever that's come over this state, but they managed to also showcase how awesome our state really is. From the hops farm in the Lenawee Peninsula to the major cities like Detroit and Kalamazoo, they showed the country, the cities, and everything in between. The film shows the camaraderie that comes along with craft beers and also just the challenges of starting and running your own business.

I was excited to see a couple Detroit area favorites featured in the film, such as Kuhnhenn and the newer Batch Brewing Company in Corktown, but my friends and I couldn't help but to think of the many that weren't highlighted. With well over a hundred microbreweries in the state though, how could they hit them all? I mean you can only fit so much into about 2 hours, right? Plus, the Kalamazoo natives only featured select companies from their side of the state too, for instance they featured the big dogs at Bell's, but not Founders. Instead, the crew found several amazing companies throughout the state, some in cities and some in small towns, each with their own story. This was definitely an awesome approach to take and it opened my eyes up to a lot of beers and places that I didn't even know existed. On top of doing that through the film, they also achieved this goal by having over 20 breweries from all over the state bring in beers for the premiere. My new favorite is definitely the Distorter from Greenbush Brewing Co.. Having tons of great beers to choose from is awesome enough, but at just $4 a drink, really, how can you beat that?

Overall, The Michigan Beer Film was a great watch and the premiere was a ton of fun. There are other showings of the film going on throughout the state. You can find out more about those here. Also keep an eye on their site for updates on DVDs and distribution. Congrats to Rhino Media on a great film and on throwing a great party too!

~C