Kolicko is the filmmaker of Beer Culture and most recently Crafting A Nation, a feature-length documentary about how the American dream is still very much alive among craft brewers in the United States.
The film features footage of Brian Hunt at Moonlight Brewing Company in Santa Rosa, California, who expounds upon Kolicko’s bikini sentiments.
"[The major breweries] have done a fantastic job of convincing the American public that these beers—Bud, Miller, Coors, whatever—are what we want to drink. We know that because the ads tell us we do... and the bikinis... how could you go wrong with bikinis?”
“But the thing is,” Hunt continues, “It’s kind of empty. America is outgrowing lack of character. We want character—in our beer, our lives, every thing we do.”
Crafting A Nation tells the stories of brewers who have risked everything to open their one-of-a-kind businesses, and endured adversity, competition with big beer brands, and financial woes along the way. It was shot across the U.S. featuring businesses in California, Colorado, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, and Texas. It features breweries, small businesses, and individuals that are growing because of the rise in the American craft beer movement.
The documentary interviews Sam Calagione, the founder and president of Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales in Milton, Delaware, on losing money in the first few years the brewery was open. “You’re not going to make it through unless you’re willing to put your life—your blood, your sweat, your tears—into those early years,” he says.
Also interviewed in the film is Dan Kopman, who says that Schlafly Brewing was established in 1991 in a doomed-to-fail, abandoned area of St. Louis, Missouri, up against the market-dominating Budweiser Brewery. “This is one of the first projects that is considered to be a long-term revival of the city,” he says. Other St. Louis-based brewers, such as 4 Hands Brewing, who have since opened say that the city is experiencing a shift in support toward smaller, local breweries.
Watch a preview of Crafting a Nation below, and find it locally to see the full-length documentary.