Among the schwag available at the Beer Bloggers Conference in Boston last July, I picked up a copy of the documentary Brewed in Brooklyn. I finally had a chance to pop it in the DVD player recently to check it out.  Produced by Delaware Valley Video, the forty-five minute film takes a look at what was once the brewing capital of the world.

Brooklyn? The brewing capital of the world?  Indeed, and the documentary provides a rather interesting look at the incredible rise of brewing in the borough and the equally fascinating descent to a total absence of breweries by the mid 1970s. 

Though producer/narrator John Weber is still wearing the same glasses he wore back in those dark days, he capably leads us through a series of interviews tracing the history of brewing in Brooklyn and its more recent revival.

Names like Rheingold and Schafer come alive from the people who were there to experience the boom. Yet, we also get a peek into new projects using long closed brewery facilities. I came away from it rather enriched – something I can’t say for a few of our recent choices on netflix. 

Take a look at the trailer for a taste: