Lost Documentaries

What One Can Imagine, One Can Achieve – In 1994, legendary San Francisco adman, Hal Riney, was asked to write advertising for an unknown Montana-brewed beer. Instead, he wrote a humorous ‘projected history’ of the beer – as if a documentarian in the year 2044 had assembled archival pictures and footage of Black Star’s remarkable rise to become the world’s most famous beer. A wry, whimsical documentary, narrated by Hal Holbrook.

The lost documentaries

Chapter 1

The Arrival

Black Star hopes building a brewery in Whitefish will be one of the finest ever built so construction begins in Whitefish.

Chapter 2

Construction

Constructing the brewery leaves Minott Wessinger ready to start brewing a beer that even competitors would be proud of.

Chapter 3

Anticipation

The anticipation grows and the new beer is respectively named.

Chapter 4

First Bottling

Black Star finally rolls its first bottle off the assembly line and at first taste it has all the qualities of becoming America’s favorite beer.

Chapter 5

The Tasting

The uniqueness of the double hopping process makes it easy for a panel of special beer tasting experts to make quite a claim.

Chapter 6

Celebration

The whole town is invited to the brewery’s grand opening. The biggest party they ever had.

Chapter 7

Expansion

The demand grows and Milwaukee begins to help the boys out. Finding the vehicle to deliver the beer. Expanding east.

Chapter 8

NY Journey

Minott and the crew experience the harsh realities of big city life and go up against the big boys with good ole fashion grass roots and elbow grease.

Chapter 9

Enthusiasm

Commitment to quality of quantity leaves the demand high in popular cities such as New York.

Chapter 10

New Brewery (Happy Holidays)

Relentless in their journey, Black Star gets some help brewing in Milwaukee to meet the demand as the weather turns for the winter in Montana.

Chapter 11

The Baseball Team

Black Star dreams of sponsoring a baseball team.

Chapter 12

Beer Wars

The war of the beer brands begin as rebel beer drinkers fight back.

Chapter 13

The Final Chapter

The dream of becoming America’s favorite beer is realized.