So who’s drinking all this ‘new’ beer?

Maps, tents, mountains, beer. Taking a piss by the side of the road. Set to music. I’m a sucker for these sorts of things. Don’t know how I missed this video — about a) Deschutes beer, b) central Oregon, c) young people with tattoos, d) freedom, e) fill in the blank — for more than a year. I suggest watching it full screen, and that you won’t be back. That’s OK. It stands on it’s own.

I found “Landmarks” because about a week ago Deschutes Brewery began selling beer in St. Louis amidst considerable excitement, and a local story included a link. It’s a commercial, yes, that speaks to a specific audience. Enjoy it and move on, or if you plan to spend part Monday thinking about the FUTURE OF BEER (please read that with your James Earl Jones voice) then understand this is part of it.

66 thoughts on “So who’s drinking all this ‘new’ beer?”

  1. I kept waiting for the joke, but it never came. I’m glad the actors had fun, drinking beer and driving around in a VW van. Stan, you owe me 4 minutes of my life back! 🙂

    Seriously, though–who do they expect to watch this and be inspired by it? I guess they could sell a mixed 12-pack with an empty gas can as an “Inspirational Voyage Pack”.

  2. Hm, dunno, all I saw was young people drinking and driving and suggestions of risky sexual behavior that probably led to disease and/or unwanted pregnancy.

    ….

    nah, just kidding of course. Thanks for a great way to kickoff my Monday morning, after a weekend of less-than-inspiring news. It sure does feel like we’re in a time when more focus is being/should be paid to the “next generation” and how good beer fits into their lifestyle without the obsession over geekerie, the ticking, the stats, and whatnot.

    Cheers

  3. “How beer is part of the lives” sounds a bit ominous to me. Do you mean as in “Special K is a great part of this nutritious breakfast” or future replicants of Kingsley Amis?

    Beer should be no more a part of people’s lives than bread or cheese or shoes or baseball tickets any other consumable and must take a place within those lives that is balanced, healthy and moderate. Not because it is bad but because it can be bad and lead to bad things when given an overly important place.

    I would be very concerned if I was considered a “beer man” by anyone as it’s a fairly shallow personal aspiration that leads to the weird use of words like passion to refer to narcissistic two-dimensional dependency.

  4. Yep.

    Good beer with other things– things we like, things we don’t like, things we don’t understand, things we might may no longer relate to.

    This is good.

  5. Beer should be no more a part of people’s lives than bread or cheese or shoes or baseball tickets any other consumable and must take a place within those lives that is balanced, healthy and moderate.

    I’m a bit confused, Alan. Granted, not an unusual condition for me. But I’d say that was one of the messages of this commercial.

  6. What smarmy pap. Cascadians manage to turn everything into reflexive cheese that alienates the rest of us (or at least me) — music, food and the whole lot included.

  7. Also Stan, as the likely youngest participant in many of these conversations, I liked it a lot. I also have a film degree, am 28 years old, and work at a brewery with lots of tattooed people. Also, boobs were in the video.

  8. Goodness, that seems a little harsh. I like the characters, and music, well enough. But that’s not why I pointed to this video. I’ll quit trying (inadequately) to explain my life-in-balance view to Alan and admit that on all matters Ron (olllllo) put it better than I.

    Good beer with other things– things we like, things we don’t like, things we don’t understand, things we might may no longer relate to.

    This is good.

  9. Andrew (brewer a) – Thanks for bringing down the average age around here.

    Even if it does piss me off how young you are. You must have been using a fake ID the first time we had beer together.

  10. OK, having watched it with the sound down I am convinced it is really creepy. It’s like one of those low budget 1970s Canadian films where the girl ends up either shooting the guy or leaving with his hockey goalie brother. Does he really have to do all the driving? I really don’t see how any of that is life in balance. It’s escape with nature and booze. And I am the guy who has two banjos. He made me feel creepy about having a banjo. I bet he has a mid-brown corduroy sports coat in that van somewhere. Least I don’t have that.

    If this is hipster I am glad to be old enough to recall when punk wasn’t a cheap throw away line that was used in branding.

  11. Two kids (seemingly) in love….seemingly having fun. I don’t see the creepy, though I’m just a surface-level bubblehead and it probably speaks to some dark side of my psyche. Nonetheless, Stan, I still “enjoyed it and moved on” and glad you shared it. All the overanalyzing here seems to be a little “over-“. But, once again, just this one guy’s perception.

  12. oh, and I meant to add. “…seemingly having fun. Beer’s involved. It’s a good craft (ooh, shutter, let’s overanalyze that) beer. It’s a form of marketing with a message to sell…..” Still okay with it. Still a bubblehead.

  13. Stan, your readership is really showing their crotchety side today. I thought I was getting old and cranky. I’m surprised no one has played “get off my lawn” card.

  14. Two words: Road Kill.

    These things may hit Canadians differently but we have a huge body of surrealist ironic black comedy based on things going bad on road trips. Bears live in the woods, baby, and they eat people. Show me a craft beer ad with scenes of them eating bear pie and maybe then you speak to the true northern in me.

  15. I like banjo playing, but it’s still funny that she walks away twice when he plays the banjo. It’s also funny that they’re gone for days, but he never needs to shave. I liked it, although one could argue that spending days finding where the labels of Deschutes beers came from doesn’t actually speak to “life in balance”! But it did make me think of the old VW ad that used Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon,” so that’s pretty good. Andrew, good observation. Zac, get off my lawn. In my day, we had to break into the brewery at Latrobe and set off alarms to see the glass-lined tanks that graced the labels of our beer…

    In conclusion, 33.

  16. Zac – Important to remember it’s my lawn, and vans are welcome.

    I think some visitors are just acting old and cranky so that I forget I am the oldest guy here.

    But I remember you are listening to The Cave Singers and I’m typing this to James McMurtry singing “Cold Dog Soup” on the Guy Clark tribute.

    Alan – If they were hipsters wouldn’t they be drinking Pabst?

  17. And Bill, I didn’t get the impression the trip revolved around locating the Deschutes landmarks. They are pretty much just there if you are looking for places to go skinny dipping in that part of Oregon.

  18. So they are future label tickers?

    But seriously. I think we need to have a little talk about hipsters if you think its all PBR. You may not be happy with the news.

  19. See, to my untrained noncritical eye, intercut scenes of mapping with scenes of them holding up each label against the actual thing-in-nature depicted on the label and marking that off for four minutes… that suggests the trip was about finding the Deschutes landmarks. Also, the film is called “Deschutes Landmarks.” You can see why I would jump to the conclusion that I jumped to.

    I had my first Deschutes brew about a month ago — it wasn’t to my taste, but nevertheless made me interested in trying some of their other brews, if that makes any sense. The hopping didn’t agree with me for that particular one, but I think i might like it in other styles.

  20. I may not be the youngest guy here, 32, but I liked it and it speaks volumes about the difference in marketing strategies between Deschutes(and some other craft) and the BMC. Music, length, portrayal of women (though I hope a woman will comment on that part) was at the complete other end of spectrum to BMC. My generation grew up on commercials, thus the love of the short film format. We’re not opposed to being marketed to, as long as it’s done well. Most of the time it is done poorly. As long as Deschutes business spirit is consistent with that of the film, and stays that way as they grow, they’ll be doing fine.

    To Steve…if this is a fad to the “kids” in the video you better start stockpiling beer, because without them driving the growth and all of you old grinches dropping like flies, we won’t have enough demand to keep the few good breweries we have open. ? of course you’ll be dead so maybe you won’t mind.

  21. I wrote an obscenely and unnecessarily long comment at Alan’s place, so I’ll cut to the chase and say that if you’re an Oregonian, you recognize this kind of marketing instantly. We’ve had beer companies doing it for decades .

    And we always fall for it.

  22. LOL! Reading only since I posted yesterday, and while I’m not as creeped out about the ad as some, I’m really not taken in by the good beer with good things marketing.

    Yeah, I’m older than the characters (and I liked the music), but I’ve also been involved with advertising and marketing in one way or another for close to 30 years — so I’m very jaded.

    I like authenticity or humor in my advertising, to me — this is phony. Sorry Stan.

    To Alan — I keep wondering why the police aren’t pursuing them because someone reported a kidnapping!

    To Sam — I didn’t say that the “next fad” wouldn’t be a different beer — someone mention tickers?

  23. I’m sure there is a name for this sort of thing in the marketing industry – show people having a good time with your product without beating them over the head with it. Ideally (for the marketers), I guess these ads are half-way to a film with product-placement.

    For me, no thanks. I’d rather watch paint dry – with a beer of my own choice.

  24. Full disclosure to everyone who’s not Stan: I’m a former BMC guy who’s now immersed in the world of craft beer branding and culture. So I could analyze this for hours, though I won’t. A few counter-points, though: (1) Some people are reading way too much into the phrase “how beer fits into their lives.” That’s exactly what I try to learn when I talk to beer drinkers in depth – understanding that is how great marketing is made. Every product you use – even paper clips – fit into your life somehow. Please don’t over-think it. (2) Some people interpret ads literally and some interpret them as metaphors. The whole ad is a metaphor – I won’t insult anyone by explaining “for what.” I completely relate to the ad in this way, even though I haven’t been camping in 30 years. I used to know a guy who’d worked for Marlboro, and he once told me “We’d get a couple guys in every focus group who’d say ‘The ad is saying Marlboro is for cowboys, and I’m not a cowboy, so it’s not for me.'” (3) Yes, despite my advanced age I even hang out sometimes in hipster bars – because that’s where you find many, many craft beer drinkers. They drink PBR for the same (perceived) reason they drink craft beer: it’s not corporate. That’s one reason craft beer is so huge in Portland, where everyone has an inner hipster.

  25. I guess I don’t understand why we can’t just enjoy the ad – ’cause that’s what it is. I’m a Deschutes fan and liked the aesthetic and story of the piece. I don’t feel dirty because Deschutes is trying to subtly market their product. Beer, particularly craft beer is part of our lives. I write about this sort of thing all the time. What’s wrong with it?

    That and I’m loathsome of dismissing any authenticity by simply calling the subjects “hipsters”. It seems they have pretty good taste in beer, like to keep it local, and know how to have a good time. I’ve got no problem with it. Hell, if we want to lump a bunch of people as “hipsters”, let’s recognize all the cool and interesting things hipsters add to our culture.

    Yes, the hipsters are drinking your beer.

  26. I’m old enough to have a lawn, young enough not to care if kids use it for an impromptu game of catch, smart enough to keep it in the backyard behind a fence and wise enough to make it rather small (in Phoenix).

    Exceeding 30 comments? Yeesh.
    I’ll say now that this film fails in its full potential as there was no unicycle which would have certainly pushed Alan over the edge.

    PS, Stan it’s Rob. And I’ve misspelled my name a few times, so you are forgiven.

  27. I want Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein to see this, because it’s tremendously ripe for a Portlandia-style send-up. Srsly. ObFrankZappaReference: titties and beer!

  28. [Suggesting someone is “over thinking” when you just disagree is silly. It shows you are both not listening and yet prepared to condescend. ]

    BTW – where are all the empties? How much have they drunk over what people of time and what distance travelled by motor vehicle. Can we take a stab at his blood alcohol levels as he seems to be the only driver. And, while we are at it, get the damn boots of the dashboard. No one has a VW van that lets boots on the dash. It must be a hint of foreshadowing of their inevitable blow up in which she stabs him 17 seconds after the last frame hits the screen. I can’t believe you people don’t see this.

  29. Alan, there was no condescension intended. I laugh at myself for over-thinking stuff all the time — you can find previous posts of mine on this forum where I do just that. Your post seemed to take the phrase “beer is part of their lives” and ultimately take that to alcohol dependency. That’s reading a lot into an innocent phrase — I was referring to that, not your take on the video overall. (Although I’m just not seeing the “dependency cues” that you seem to be seeing.) You’re right when you say “Beer should be no more a part of people’s lives than bread or cheese or shoes or baseball tickets any other consumable and must take a place within those lives that is balanced, healthy and moderate.” But also no less. So maybe I was over-thinking your post. Or maybe you’re over-thinking my use of the word “over-thinking”…? (I’m generally disinclined to use emoticons, so I’ll point out that that was a joke.)

  30. Fair enough – and thanks for being more gracious than me – but if that much beer is what it takes to make a relationship then I am left wondering what is the nature of “their lives” that beer is to be “a part” of. I like that the film remembers that the drinkers are the actual point of beer but it seems to be a wee bit too focused on the role of beer in their as yet unsettled relationship as opposed to a part of a balanced life. They are a wee bit unbalanced – as everyone is in a tipping point of dating. Using that as a moment for mentioning a beer or any other product I think is at the heart of the head scratching of many.

  31. Aside from the “boob” comments, this has to be the most prudish threads I’ve ever seen on a beer blog. The obsession with how drunk these two love birds may or may not be over the course of what looks to be a weekend is so missing the point.

    How much beer did they actually consume over a two-day period? Mirror Pond, Black Butte, Inversion, Obsidian, Green Lakes, and Twilight was it and most of that was during the time they weren’t even on the road. In fact, they had the Mirror Pond before they drove and that’s the only time they drove after having a beer.

    I suspect the number of beers consumed over a 2-3 day period was not considered, but the reality wouldn’t be that far off most weekends spent under the stars. And it wasn’t as if they were binge drinking.

  32. So he went to the gas station that sold singles? Maybe this is possible in Oregon and I never knew. Not something I have seen in NE, NY or PA let alone Canada. That’s a good gas station.

  33. He bought the beer at a gas station? I also didn’t see that. It seems that wherever they traveled, the big, red cooler in his van followed them everywhere. I suspect he had two of each kind of beer in the cooler so that he could share them. The dude thinks of everything. 😉

  34. It’s in the blurry background when he walks back from the gas station. But if he has a cooler full, why buy more?

    I think we need to parse this puppy even more. There have to be way more levels to this. 😉

  35. LULZ. Man, you crack me up. Fair enough. It was there. Maybe she had a hankerin’ for some Mirror Lake Pale Ale and his local beer shop was fresh out.

  36. I really should leave well enough alone, but…
    If we’re counting “average beers per day” in the video, I would argue that we don’t know how many days long this trip was. We only see two nigthtime scenes, but that doesn’t mean there were only two nights in the entire trip. For all we know, each beer we see being consumed actually occured on a separate day, over the course of a week-long (or even longer) trip. Too much focus on the beer? Pretend for the moment that this was a “real” trip, though brought to you by a beer company — which four minutes’ worth of the trip would you expect them to show?

  37. I have more observations, but all I can add/feel like adding at this point is the observation that this has begun to feel like an out-of-control BA forum thread.

    Stan, how you holding up over there?! 😉

  38. Bryan, if this were Facebook, I would click on “Like” for your last post. Stan, now that Deschutes is in St. Louis, if you would kindly notify me when The Abyss hits the shelves, I’m sure I can find an excuse to drive down there.

  39. Ride the roller coaster, Bryan. I think we are all going in the same direction of merry deconstruction supportive analysis now. I watch with the sound down and a little angstity punk on. Works better.

  40. Bryan – I’ve been busy checking to make sure I have words like citronellol spelled correctly and next thing I know there are 5 more comments.

    When I have to be paying attention is in 3 days because the spammers seem to be drawn to the longer threads. But I must say that BA comment stings ;>)

    Mike – Deschutes made some friends by saving some of its special releases from mid-2011 (since they originally planned to be here then). So they had Black Butte XXIII (released in June), The Stoic, The Abyss, etc. But they got scooped up within hours. On the other hand, I’m told Abyss is still sitting on the shelves in Bend. Guess those hipsters don’t know what they got ;>)

    Two emoticons in one comment. Probably a statement about what this thread has come to.

  41. “…but all I can add/feel like adding at this point is the observation that this has begun to feel like an out-of-control BA forum thread.”

    Hah!! I sort of thought that’s what the original video was all about. 😉

    And as long as we’re dissecting, one of the scenes I found interesting was that they pitched their tent, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest — we’re assuming, without a rain fly?

    Hah — okay, yeah – now I’m making fun for the fun of it. Carry on.

  42. No, no. All proper respect. In fact, what I must do is pick your brain for how to generate page views and comments with seemingly little investment (i.e. writing) up front 🙂

    I mean, you and Alan can generate a lot of interest and chatter with real honest-to-goodness content. How you did with this with mere suggestion of a light-hearted Monday morning video is pure genius. C’mon…55+ comments and counting. Oops, 56. I can’t imagine what else it could be 😀

    (oh, nevermind, maybe “brewer a” was right all the way back in the wee hours of this odyssey….”BOOBS!”)

  43. I’d like to point out that with all the (alleged) beer consumed we only saw one pee break.

    For those that are obsessed with connecting the dots in movies, I’ll submit that no one says goodbye on the telephone in movies. Rude!

    I look forward to more advertisements that I don’t understand (though I get this example) as long as it speaks to someone that pays the bills for good beer to continue.

  44. Ladies and gentleman, I submit the most sensible observation yet. Well, done, olllllo. (Is that supposed to be the grill of a Jeep?)

  45. Wow what inane comments on a cute, feel good video that was made to promote the greatness of Deschutes Brewery and Central Oregon.

    Alan, where in the video does it show them with 6 full six packs of product??? Its been awhile since I have seen it. And if it did what makes you think they drank all 6 of them?? If you go to Deschutes’ actual brewing facility you can buy mixed six packs as well as in any grocery store in Bend.

    Now to the actuality of hitting all of the landmarks in a weekend. Mirror Pond is actually in city limits so it would be the easiest and closest to start with. Green Lakes trail head is about an hour or so from Mirror Pond and its about a 6 mile hike into Green Lakes one way, so if you are in a hurry you can do that in a day. Black Butte is about 2 hours outside of Bend in the opposite direction of Green Lakes. And you can get to the Obsidian Trail but that again is another hour or so in another direction to get to a trail head with a good 3-4 hike to get to any. An Inversion is a wintertime occurrence so in all reality that one wasn’t done at the same time as the rest of the “landmark” tastings. And twilight?? Not sure where that “landmark” is as its a time of day….. so it could be drunk at any point of the summer.

    As to the rain fly comment, you have never been to Central Oregon have you?? It never rains here!!! We average less than a half an inch a month in the summertime and if you were to put on a rain fly you would just miss out on all the amazing start gazing as you are trying to fall asleep.

    Everyone out there please go out and enjoy a Red Chair!!!

  46. I’ll be lucky Roger Maris #61 (comment)….Faith, thanks for the great first-hand context 🙂 Next best thing to being there.

    I am actually sitting in a Red Chair, but alas will have to settle for a Dissident instead

  47. “I hate it when someone tries to explain art.” No offense, but that seems an entirely inappropriate noun to apply to a commercial property.

  48. “you have never been to Central Oregon have you??”

    Actually? I have. Though it was some years ago, and I imagine the eco-meteorilogocal system may have changed since then (seems to have in Northern Illinois), but it rained on me 3 of the 5 days I was there.

    Besides, anyone who camps will tell you that the rain fly on your tent is most important, especially when you least expect it!

    But to be fair, it all was just fun-poking.

  49. As a native Oregonian old enough to be the dad of either of the two kids in the film, all I have to say is whoever raised them brought them up right: Beer, boobs and Joe’s Donuts (a must stop any time headed “over the mountain”). To steal Deschutes’ tagline: Bravely Done.

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