Every once in a while I stop in my tracks and think, “Wow…my friends do some really cool things!”  It brings so much joy to me and so I thought I would share a few stories with you in a series I am calling My Friends do Cool Things.

Gumba
Bryant and I circa 2001 in Australia

A little over two years ago, a friend of mine, Bryant Naro, posted a link to a kickstarter page for a project that he and his wife Meagan were doing called Brew Hampshire, a documentary on the budding craft beer scene in New Hampshire.  A longtime friend, I’ve known Bryant since we were 12 years old.  We traveled the world together on student tours in middle school and our bands played many a shared a bill in high school.  It had been some time since we had spoken but I was always excited to hear the updates on his film career from mutual friends and social media.  I knew he had spent time at Florentine Films but was impressed to hear he and Meagan had started their own production company, Slate Roof Films, and were working on a full length documentary on top of their day to day client work.  Always happy to support my friends in their endeavors, I backed the project and proceeded to more or less forget about it, despite the top notch job they did in providing frequent and meaningful project updates.

Fast forward almost two years and I am sitting in the tap room at Aeronaut Brewery in Somerville for a screening of the recently released Brew Hampshire film.  Using the founding story of Merrimack, NH based Able Ebenezer Brewing Company as a vehicle to paint a picture of the exploding New Hampshire craft beer scene, the film brilliantly ties the natural beauty and independent character of the Granite State to its various breweries and tap rooms as well as to the overarching community itself.  I could not have been more impressed with the film.  It was informative but gripping, polished but underscored by raw honesty.  Even more impressive, however, was the fact that Bryant and Meagan had done this as a passion project alongside the substantial demands of client work and establishing a business.  It takes a lot of effort, hustle, and grit to do what they do but these two are the definition of entrepreneurs in my book–breaking out on their own, finding a way to pay the bills, and adding something novel and creative to the world!  It was incredible to be able to share in that moment of triumph with them and I can’t wait for their next project (it’s already in the works and it sounds amazing)!  If you haven’t already, check out Brew Hampshire, you won’t be disappointed.