To say that craft beer has changed the way we imbibe in the new millennium would be an understatement. It would also restrict the discussion on just what it is that craft beer does for us. Yes, we are talking beer, but when we have a better understanding of where our beer comes from and when we feel encouraged to connect over beer as something to be enjoyed—and not just something to get us to an altered state—then beer helps foster entrepreneurship; beer helps revitalize communities; and beer helps educate. I write this now from Vancouver, Canada, where in the past ten years the number of craft breweries has almost tripled; where craft beer has become a career for many close friends and a fervent pursuit at the very least for almost all others.

Interest in this frothy subject practically overflows nowadays, so it should come as no surprise that filmmakers have decided to pull up a barstool as well. Netflix premiered an original sitcom-style series titled Brews Brothers last year (think The League, but set in a craft brewery), and its comedy-drama anthology series Easy features a number of episodes in which Dave Franco navigates relationships along with a maverick home brewing operation. Amateur videos highlighting craft beer how-to’s and recipes abound on YouTube, and feature-length docus such as Beers Of Joy, Brewmaster, and Craft: The California Beer Documentary take us on sweeping tours of beer scenes around the world.

A quick Google search will tell you that the sprawling and always trend-forward California has the most craft breweries of any state in the U.S., so, like Craft before it, the latest in this line of films is a sunshine state-focused picture. Brewmance comes from director Christo Brock (known for his swim documentary, Touch the Wall), who teams with burgeoning brewers in his local Long Beach area to serve up a glimpse into the stories behind modern “beer on the ground” operations, while also shedding light on the brewing process itself and collecting input from industry heavyweights around the U.S. Our primary subjects are the teams behind Ten Mile Brewing Co. and Liberation Brewing Co. – respectfully, a father-son duo who have found bounding ground over a love of beer, and the brainchild of former Reel Big Fish trombonist Dan Regan. Both crews come from humble home brewing origins, so Brock investigates how these origins represent the spirit of craft and how this spirit translates itself into viable and exciting businesses for our modern tastes.

Despite craft beer’s proliferation in mainstream markets, it is still arguably a “niche” subject. This is due in part to its insistence on being a fiercely independent undertaking, distinct from (and almost combative against) the macro-brewing juggernauts, while also striving for its own universality and inclusivity. These goals aren’t unattainable, mind you, they just require time to gestate in the hive mind and gradually transform collective tastes. But as a result of the general perception of craft beer, any documentary made on the subject is going to inevitably come off as niche as well. Like a documentary on Magic: The Gathering or fantasy football, a craft beer documentary will undoubtedly prove that a massive legion of fanatics exists for the product, but also that that “fanaticism” is just that: a geeky subculture that operates at a level of mania that mainstream tastes don’t yet appreciate. (The label “craft beer nerd” is used for a reason.) As such, a craft beer documentary has to walk the line of providing fan service to its loyal bands of nerds and making the concepts of craft beer accessible for those with only peripheral interest.

To an extent, Brewmance proves adept at walking this line. Its subjects are dead-focused on their aim, but they are also keen to share their passion with the camera, open up, and let us into their world of concoctions. Dan and Jesse of Ten Mile Brewing and Dan and Eric of Liberation are fairly seasoned and accomplished beer alchemists, but they frequently come off as giddy teenagers just jazzed to be turning beer into their profession, and this ingratiates them to us. As new-to-the-scene business owners, you also get a sense of just how far these men still have to go professionally. Home brewing is a far cry from brewing in a warehouse with a big multi-tank setup, and no part of the home brewing process teaches one budgeting, staff management, obtaining government permits, etc. But there’s a real pull-yourself-up-by-your bootstraps attitude when it comes to figuring these things out and putting your product out there. What’s more, it takes a village. Dan and Jesse as father and son call on the help of wives, cousins, sisters, and just about anyone in their network willing to lend a hand, and Dan with Liberation assembles a mighty force of compatriots through friend groups and contacts from his touring and recording days.

Brock captures the many components that must be pulled together from far and wide to make big dreams happen, and he weaves us through the parallel stories in a way that is mostly compelling throughout. To give his film a bit of a rhythm, the ingredients of beer are bullet-pointed at regular intervals amidst the documentary proper, each bullet point coming with an explanation of how the ingredient works during the brewing process and how it expresses itself in the final beverages. Brewing is very much a science, but as any server will tell you when you pony up to the bar at a brewery, everything can be explained in easy-to-grasp terms. What’s more, everything in Brewmance is relayed with the utmost enthusiasm, and this goes a long way when you’re trying to get your audiences on board.

Like the documentaries before it, though, what Brewmance seems to be missing are stand-ins for the audience – the beer enjoyers; the people who interpret craft beer from the standpoint of someone who isn’t trying to prove themselves or be the expert. So much of what has turned craft beer into the global phenomenon that it is are the drinkers who have strayed away from the widely available macro offerings and stayed there in favour of more adventurous imbibing. For these folk, craft beer has irrevocably changed the way they socialize, the way they talk about food and drink, and the way they engage with their drink producers, and this just isn’t touched on in Brewmance. This isn’t to say that the subjects of Brewmance are constantly talking down at us in the film or puffing themselves up, but that their perspectives lend themselves best to others like them in the industry, as they are absorbed in getting their footing, and not yet in the customer’s experience. I, for one, would also like to have seen more in-depth looks at the beers Ten Mile and Liberation are producing. While there is talk of the general process by which beer is made, never do we see one of the two breweries’ beers actually getting made. Then, when the film culminates in the Great American Beer Festival awards competition, we as viewers know nothing about the beers our breweries have entered. (Maybe information is withheld in order to uphold trade secrets?)

Regrettably, there is very little done in this documentary to bridge the gap with the more casual craft beer drinker. Even the personal lives of our brewers that are revealed all seem to be in service only to craft beer, and this keeps the subjects at arm’s length. At the end of the day, Brewmance is a documentary that will find its surest footing and replay value with fellow beer nerds also working at breweries and attempting home brews. Still, having seen craft beer documentaries before Brewmance, I can’t say much new about the industry, the product, or the process is revealed. What is most disappointing to see lacking in this documentary are subjects willing to shake up the industry in some way, or prove that their product will truly make a unique impact. For the most part, these brewers seem keen to take a by-the-numbers approach to opening businesses that sit comfortably in the current craft beer scene without ruffling any feathers. The most conflict we see in this film is Liberation’s conflict with Long Beach neighbour Beachwood Brewing over the name of one of their IPAs.

There is a spirit in craft beer the world over that is very specific to California, and Brewmance is at its best when it is charting this spirit through the history of the region and into its modern embodiments of Ten Mile and Liberation. Craft beer is preserved through its consistently high-quality expressions on the market today, but also through the rigour, perseverance, and whimsy of its generations of brewers. This viewer just wishes that the whimsy in this film were served in higher and stronger amounts.

Brewmance releases on VOD on all major streaming platforms starting April 13th in the US, Canada, the UK, and more.

"Brewmance" and the Can-Do in Every Brew