Chances are that if a documentary has a beer company’s name in the title and the filmmaker’s not getting sued, you’re probably not getting the whole story. Then again, do you really want it? Undoubtedly there are probably a few black helicopters buzzing around the brewing industry. Wherever there is so much money to be made, the minions of greed will leave a slimy trail. Usually with beer companies it’s insipid advertising campaigns involving lizards, frogs, dogs, or ponies – cute stand-ins for the pot-bellied, butt-scratching, drop-lipped, blue-collar Americans who regularly pay money to the man to kill their brain cells in such a graceless fashion. And, just in case you’re one of the fatheads laboring under the delusion that you can get your swerve on and still operate heavy machinery, good brewers always add a quick, chipper disclaimer at the end that tells you not to drink and drive – not because they don’t want you to plow over a hapless pedestrian after an exhilarating night beneath the business end of a Pi Kappa Alpha beer bong, but rather because in doing so you might deprive them of a potential lifelong user, perhaps even two if the manslaughter conviction stands. Hey, business is business. Still, it’s a tricky business dealing America’s second biggest drug while trying to maintain a modicum of social responsibility (number one drug being, of course, caffeine, which you can legally pimp to minors all the way down to, regrettably, infants – check out the soft drink logos on baby bottles if you’re an unbeliever). Of course, a good bit of this smarminess should be credited to politicians. For years beer companies have been saddled with maddening regulations that encourage them to constantly blow smoke up our asses in order to market their products. Why can’t a drug dealer just be a drug dealer? What’s so wrong with that?
Something’s Brewin’ in Shiner, a documentary screening this Monday at the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown, answers the preceding question with a definitive “nothing.” Former GSD&M creative director and Beef & Pie Productions co-founder Mike Woolf has crafted a light-hearted, folksy little film about the good people of Shiner, Texas, and their happy relationship with the town’s biggest employer. In particular, the film focuses on the unveiling of Shiner’s newest product, heralded by a huge beer bust on the brewery’s front lawn, ostensibly to make sure the town approves of the beer before releasing it to the public at large. Not surprisingly, most of the film’s subjects are featured in varying stages of jovial insobriety, harboring nothing but warm feelings for their beer-brewing benefactor, and why shouldn’t they? People generally enjoy getting lit, especially when they’re not paying for it … at least on the front end. And what could be more satisfying than getting faced on free beer brewed right in your own hometown? Chances are, even if you’re not from Shiner, you’ll be looking to toss a few back before the film reaches its refreshingly brief 30 minute end, and to that end, the kind folks at Alamo Drafthouse are offering $1 Shiners at Monday night’s screening. They’re also tacking on some other highly entertaining beer-related shorts including the 1976 documentary about Shiner that won that year’s Student Academy Award; all for about the price of a six-pack. Be prepared to take the bus home … or maybe a cab … or maybe you could hold out for one of the black helicopters.
