I’ve known about this for a little while now, but it seemed like Thanksgiving was a good time to try to help spread the word about this project. For the Love of Beer is a film project by Alison Grayson to highlight, well I’ll let her tell you.

For the Love of Beer is a documentary devoted to the stories and the passion of the women at the forefront of the Pacific NW beer community. It’s not for feminism or equality … it’s for The Love of Beer.

Frankly, that’s something I’m very thankful for: women in beer. Beer had traditionally been a man’s world because beer was all the same, not terribly complex or diverse and didn’t add as much as it could to a food experience. Not to mention the big brewer’s advertising beginning in the Sixties became more focused on marketing to young males, alienating many women in the process. Craft beer changed all that and women have been a big part of that movement, especially in recent years. The fact that a growing number of women are brewing beer and enjoying beer is having a profound impact on craft beer and the direction it’s heading.

Have you ever met a brewer or beer geek who’s significant other didn’t like beer? They always tell the tale with a sigh of resignation. Life seems better when your partner shares your obsessions. I know I’ve told this story too many times, but before I even asked my wife of 15-years out on a date, I took her to a brewery and ordered a sampler for her. At that time she didn’t drink good beer, but because of her positive reaction to the experience, I asked her out on the spot and we’ve been happily drinking together for over fifteen years. In fact, we spent our honeymoon touring breweries in Oregon and Washington, which is the geographic subject of Grayson’s film.

You can see more of her film work at her Vimeo page for Grayson Productions. But watch the trailer of the beer documentary in progress below. The film first caught my eye because my friend and colleague Lisa Morrison is featured in the trailer and, presumably the finished film as well. That’s reason enough to support it, but then there’s also Tonya Cornett, the terrific brewer from Bend Brewing.

For the Love of Beer Trailer from Grayson Productions on Vimeo.