Minnesota Craft Beer Documentary Premieres Saturday

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- On Thanksgiving Day 2011, Dave Okar decided he needed to start documenting Minnesota's craft beer movement.

"I just went out and started doing it," Okar said. "After I got some material, it became clear that you should make a film about it."

In May of 2011, Gov. Mark Dayton singed the Surly Bill into law. Before the law, Minnesota brewers were not allowed to serve pints of beer on site.

After the law took effect in 2012, microbreweries started spreading rapidly. Now there are more than 50 in operation.

"I talked to sixteen breweries across the state," he said.

Okar went as far north as Walker, and as far south as Winona. He interviewed two people from each brewery about their start, their family and their philosophy.

"Their common element was a love of beer. I think all of them started from home brewing of one sort or another," Okar said. "They had such passion for what they were doing."

The film, called "Crafted to Last: Minnesota Beer Blossoms," will debut on Saturday, July 19 at Pepito's Parkway Theater in south Minneapolis.

"I think this is a very positive economic development in the state," Okar said. "Not just for beer people … This is a real solid, financial economic boom moving forward."

Click here to visit the film's Facebook page, and here to watch the film's trailer on Vimeo.