Crafting a nation One craft beer at a time

This innocuous documentary is divided between tracking the launch of a Denver craft brewery and allowing brewers from around the country to speak for their art. Accompanied by soporific guitar music, the many segments blur together in the absence of narrators or other framing devices. The film jumps among locales such as Asheville, NC, and St. Louis, cutting back multiple times to the Denver brewers and their struggles with construction and bureaucracy. It leaves an impression of one bearded man after another talking about the social and economic value of his enterprise to his area. The viewer might lose track of who is who as the connections among them are not well delineated. VERDICT The filmmakers missed an opportunity to include a variety of perspectives by not inviting customers, for example, to contribute. Still, this mellow viewing experience is handsomely shot and the featured brewers are likable. Beer enthusiasts will enjoy the film, but its appeal is otherwise limited.-Peter Hepburn, Coll. of the Canyons Lib., Santa Clarita, CA (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.