Leave it to the crew at Durango's Ska Brewing to make a movie that reminds the craft-beer world not to take itself so seriously.
Brew Minions is a twenty-minute parody of Brew Masters, the Discovery Channel show starring Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewing in Delaware. And Minions even features a cameo by Calagione himself.
Brew Minions, A Parody, from David Thibodeau on Vimeo.
The story, co-produced by Ska and Exposure Productions in Durango, follows Ska Brewing owners Dave Thiboudeau, Bill Graham and Matt Vincent "as they flawlessly execute a project to make a 30th Anniversary beer for the long-running NYC Ska band The Toasters. Along the way they cross high mountain passes and travel almost across town, pioneer techniques to produce beers (and short films) of questionable originality, and ignore advice from Sam himself," according to the production notes.This isn't the only parody out there. Last year, Stone Brewing owner Greg Koch created the very earnest "I Am a Craft Brewer," which was gently mocked with this video ("There is a craft beer in my pants right now") available on YouTube.
And this summer, look for Beer Culture, "a feature-length documentary film about the growing trend in Craft Beer set in the epicenter of it all, Colorado. According to advance buzz, Beer Culture explains the "cultural phenomenon behind the growth of craft beer telling it through the stories of struggles and successes of some top brewers in Colorado."