Crafted to Last – Minnesota Beer Blossoms is a feature length documentary film conceived and created by D. Okar for the MN Craft Beer Project and CDDF Productions. It features people from 16 breweries from across Minnesota in conversation about beer, breweries, Minnesota and the beer distribution laws in the state. We covered the state from Walker to Rollingstone and from Stillwater to Marshall, as well as Minneapolis, Duluth, New Ulm, Brooklyn Center and Minnetonka. Ten cities all together.

The source audio material for the film was collected on location from February 2012 until August 2013. Video content will be acquired up until the last possible moment prior to release of the documentary. A few people have provided additional photos and video to CDDF Productions. Dan Schwarz (Lift Bridge Brewing Co.), Greg and Gina Smith (Leech Lake Brewing Co.) contributed photos. Jeff Halvorson provided a few shots of Sherlock’s Home Brew Pub from its final days and Damon Bay let us use video from beer fests. All the rest was shot by D. Okar, Gulin Oz, Sterling Nazario, Juan Nazario, Carlus Dingfelder, Jesse Brodd, and a guy on the brewery tour at Harriet Brewing Co. Editing was by SpitBall, otherwise known as Dave Okar or Brixton Hughes.

The film includes an original score by Zachary Lozier and Lewsha Music. Our relationship with Zack is a fine example of how CDDF Productions works from the grass roots. We met him through Jason Sowards and Jesse Brodd  at Harriet Brewing Co. where he was one of the first musicians to play in the garage that preceded the tap room that now graces the back of the brewery. Our first collaboration, Three Minute Tap Room, was a short video created to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of the soft opening of the tap room on St. Paddy’s Day 2012.  One year later, we were recording the Zack Lozier Three playing pieces from the score he is composing for Crafted to Last and getting some video of Zack blowing his horn in the tap room with Steve Pikal and Steven Hobert. Using B-Roll video from version #10e of Crafted To Last and music from the score by the Zack Lozier Three, SpitBall made a short video that introduced the idea of community funding campaigns.

I owe a great deal to the patience and passion of all the brewers that helped us to make Crafted to Last. Together we have created the definitive document of when Minnesota craft beer blossomed anew under the relaxed distribution laws for packaging breweries that took effect in January 2012. My goal was to let you tell your story as directly to the viewer, without too much of my perspective getting in the way and I accomplished it to good effect, I think. Although the few minutes that each of you get to speak in the film are only a small fragment of everything you said on camera, these were very carefully chosen to reflect the unique aspects of your brewery, beer, approach and attitude.  I especially hope that the people in the film enjoy it.