Blood, Sweat, and Beer | Film Review

Last year, I had the opportunity to review a documentary centered around my absolute favorite hobby with “Video Games: The Movie“. Little did I know that “Blood, Sweat, and Beer” would afford me another introspective look at my other passion: craft beer.

I know what you’re thinking: ‘Scott has a hobby that involves drinking? He must be an alcoholic.’ I get that a lot, actually. In all honestly, I’m far from having any kind of problem. I just thoroughly enjoy the variety available to me when it comes to brews. Gone are the days of getting wasted on light beer, heaving behind an alley, and forgetting the events of the night before. Those times are now replaced with sampling as many different brands and types of beer as possible and keeping track of my ratings for each. To many people, I might actually be considered a ‘snob’ of sorts when it comes to alcohol consumption.

Despite the industry booming within the past ten years, I’ve learned little more than the names of breweries and the different ways in which beer is produced. I’ve been flying blind in regards to the history of the industry or any truly interesting statistics about its growth. Until now.

“Blood, Sweat, and Beer”, written and directed by Chip Hiden and Alexis Irvin, tells the stories of two different breweries – one in Maryland and one in Pennsylvania – while also chronicling the recent explosion of the craft beer industry in the United States. At the time of filming, one brewery had only been open a relatively short amount of time, while the other was working towards their grand opening.

The two stories in the film were compelling enough, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t drawn to these two businesses more because of my personal interest in craft beer. Both companies experienced the woes of many up-and-coming businesses in other industries, including frustrating lawsuits, nerve-racking financial constraints, and the always-present question of ‘Is this going to work out for me in the long run?’ The way Hiden and Irvin frame their story awoke my own fantasies about being twenty-three years old again, with the freedom to pursue a career in building something about which I’m very passionate.

My concern with “Blood, Sweat, and Beer” is that those who don’t have even a slight interest in craft beer won’t be swayed by these two stories of entrepreneurism, which at times feels a bit like filler packed in with the interesting factoids about the industry. That said, the statistics included in this film are immensely interesting, particularly with how many and how fast these microbreweries have grown in such a short amount of time. Hiden and Irvin expertly pepper tidbits of information in between switching back and forth between both accounts. This keeps either story from feeling stale and also keeps the casual viewer from being inundated with too many numbers.

This is a film I would recommend to those who are either already invested in craft beer or who might have been curious about getting into it. It probably won’t change your mind if you’re not currently a fan (nothing but regular sampling will do that), but it might give some insight on just how difficult it is to get into a business such as this with both feet. It’s a short watch at an hour and eleven minutes, yet feels like I got more information than that time should allow. I just wish – probably selfishly – that “Blood, Sweat, and Beer” would have enticed more people to branch out from their mass-produced domestic offerings. I understand that probably wasn’t what the filmmakers were going for, but I feel that might have given the film a much broader appeal. Still, that audience is growing every single day, so this film might have legs as craft beer continuously grows in popularity. As for the movie itself, “Blood, Sweat, and Beer” is a quality addition for your Untappd app.

Now available:

iTunes: http://apple.co/1VuOFSx
Amazon – http://amzn.to/1JJTa4X
Google Play – http://bit.ly/1WBKHtC
Website: http://bloodsweatbeermovie.vhx.tv

 

Scott Clark
The Hollywood Outsider