Brewmaster
SXSW Conference Film World Premiere
Alamo Lamar, March 9, 2018
Review by Stacey Lovett
Douglas Tirola’s latest documentary explores the history, passion, process, artistry, and craftsmanship of the growing industry that surrounds craft beer. This award-winning director/producer is no stranger to his film portrayals of the rebirth of the artistry of booze with his 2013 documentary Hey Bartender. In celebration of the premiere of his latest one, he treated the entire audience to a pint – the ‘directors choice’ to enjoy as they watched artistry portraying artistry with his premiere of Brewmaster.
The resurgence of people returning to the handcrafted taste and thoughtful process to achieve it has led an entire movement within the beer community – in both brewers and admirers – and Tirola explores this process of passion in a tandem narrative through the eyes of several members of this developing society. It paired nicely with the SXSW food track in that it promotes the exploration and connection to the craft beer industry documenting the development of expertise. Through the stories of achievement, budding brewers, and hopeful cicerones he brings to light the process and sacrifices put forth in the name of passion, exploring the journey of each individual at the cost of both failures and successes in their grassroots journeys to achieve their dreams in the new age beer market. The director explained his reason for creating this documentary on craft beer is that he wanted to portray the process behind it – the blood, sweat, and tears – and not just the by-product. This film serves as a thoughtful representation of what the craft beer industry means on a historical, individual, technical, & artistic level and ties in that individualistic branding that sets this niche apart and translates the personal background of each label. Tirola realistically portrays the careful standards of the craft brewing renaissance leading the viewer to taste the passion behind every bottle and truly understand the craft in it. Viewers gain an appreciation of seeing these guys firsthand carve a life out for themselves out of something they love and are passionate about and that’s definitely something to toast to!
Director: Douglas Tirola
Douglas is an award-winning director and producer whose films have been distributed around the world and premiered at festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca and SXSW. His credits include Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead (Magnolia) , Hey Bartender (Showtime), Kate Plays Christine (Grasshopper), Making the Boys (First Run) and most recently Bisbee ’17.
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