The Lost Docs

Untold Story

The Lost Docs

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. Full Story

Untold Story

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 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.