I should say at the outset that I love Colorado. I go there at least once a year, have many beer friends and colleagues there. There are many, many great breweries there and their beer culture should be celebrated. Of that, I believe there can be no doubt. And in fact, a new documentary film is seeking to do just that, a laudable enterprise. The title is Beer Culture: the Movie, and the idea behind it is the following. “Beer Culture is a documentary film about the growing rich American Culture in Craft Beer by telling the inspirational stories of unwavering motivation by some of Colorado’s top Brewers.” It’s release date is Summer 2011. Frankly, I can’t wait, it looks great. Free Mind Productions should be proud of what they’ve done so far. They’ve also just released a new trailer with tons of great teasers, and lots of great people being interviewed, including Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, Eric Wallace, Marty Jones and Charlie Papazian.
But then at just past the one minute mark, one of the interviewees — I’m not sure who it is — says the following. “Pretty much everybody thinks of Colorado as the birthplace of craft brewing.” Really? Um, did I miss a meeting? That just sticks in my craw. Hyperbole is one thing, but that’s simply a false statement that is just not true. I know the producers didn’t say it, but they’re sure seizing it on it to promote their film. It’s not one of those subjective facts that people can interpret different ways, like who brewed the first Black IPA. We know Fritz Maytag bought the ailing Anchor Brewery in 1965 and turned into what it is today. We know Jack McAuliffe incorporated New Albion Brewery in Sonoma, California in October of 1976 and built the first modern microbrewery from scratch. Colorado’s first microbrewery was the Boulder Beer Company, which was founded in September of 1979. Those are the facts, plain and simple.
Maybe I’m being oversensitive, but I don’t think so. Last week, John Kerry was quoted in a press release about the new BEER Act that’s been introduced in the Senate that the “craft beer revolution started right here in Massachusetts.” Now this. I believe that Colorado has much to celebrate with its beer culture, but it doesn’t really need to take liberties with the truth to do that. It doesn’t need to throw California’s contributions under the bus to raise up its own. I don’t really feel like I should have to protect California’s place in the history of craft brewing. It seems like it should be fairly secure and unassailable, but here we are. I hope enough people will see fit to point this out to the producers of Beer Culture and they’ll remove it from the movie. They don’t need to keep something so blatantly untrue in there and for me, at least, it just mars the film’s credibility. The story of Colorado’s craft beer scene is a great and worthy subject for a movie, but it can only be improved by sticking to the facts … and the beer.
Come on Jay, we all know the craft beer revolution started in Portland. 🙂
I would definitely like to email the producers of this film and let them know that I would take issue with this quote appearing in the movie, but, alas, I cannot find info for how to contact them… any leads?
Aside from that statement, I agree – the trailer makes it look like a well-produced movie for beer drinkers of Colorado.
Rick beat me to the joke! But he’s right, of course.
Jay — thanks for putting this out. I sent an email to the “producer” of the “film” last night requesting that this statement be removed. I haven’t heard back yet but will let Bulletin know if/when I do.
I’m not sure if “the birthplace of craft brewing” = “where the first craft brewery was”. I’m not even sure that craft brewing had a birthplace, it being a slowly forming swarm of enthusiasts (from all over the country) of more interesting beer than that available in the US.
I believe, but certainly can’t prove, that craft brewing owes much of its genesis to home brewing and home brewers and for that Boulder’s Charlie Papazian can be credited.
Birthplace = “place of birth or origin.” Craft brewing does have an origin and that is Anchor Brewing Co. There is no dispute about that. Microbrewing has an origin and that is New Albion Brewing Co. Connecting homebrewing to craft brewing is fine, but that’s like saying your own birthplace is where your father and mother were born. Your own birthplace is where you were born. Why am I even stating this when it is so obvious….
I believe John Kerry has declared that it started in Massachusetts. And he is a US Senator who would never lie.
Happy St. Paddy’s Day!
Keep up the good fight to get the record straight.
Oh come on, we all know the craft brewing movement started in Utah in 1963. Whoops, I forgot Alabama 1962.
I’m a Colorado homebrewer (and native) and I still think the statement is a little presumtuous (I like facts!).
That being said, one guy saying, “..pretty much everybody THINKS…” isn’t necessarily a false statement. Before learning about the history of Anchor, etc. and the craft community in other parts of the country, I thought Colorado is where it all got started. Friends in other parts of the country think this is where it all got started, too. Maybe I’m biased because of my location, but one opinion on a documentary doesn’t seem like that big a deal to me.
For what it’s worth, I don’t want to see anyone upset by anything said in a documentary about my great state and favorite hobby. If it’s something that offends, I want the film makers to take that into consideration. By no means would I want false information to go out to the world!
This is a very interesting topic and I really like hearing what everyone has had to say.
And even if you don’t grant Fritz his rightful title as first micro, you must grant Jack McAuliffe, who also founded his brewery, New Albion, in the Golden State.
When I think of a state with a strong push for more craft breweries and a strong craft brewery presence, I think Colorado. I’m from east of the Mississippi and that’s not an uncommon thought. There are a few breweries in California that are well known today that started it all, but on the whole, Colorado’s craft breweries became the more romantic vision for the country as a whole. The statement isn’t accurate when you look at it from a single brewery perspective, but on a whole-state, craft brewing culture, Colorado is it. It you were in Northern California at the time–or even now–it certainly could have seemed otherwise. I think the person’s statement is from the view of the 80s or 90s and Colorado is a much more concentrated state population wise. Right now if you asked me what state I’d want to be a brewer in, I’d say Colorado. I don’t think it’s about where the firsts were, but where craft beer took off on an community scale.