#Breckenridge, Colorado.
Making log siding and building cabins turns out to be more involved than just following a chainsaw through the forest.
The good folks at Crazy Mountain Brewery learned that. They’re featured on the National Geographic reality show “Cabin Fever.”
The show airs Tuesday on the National Geographic channel at 8 p.m.
“We’re not sure how they found us,” said Marisa Selvy, who owns the brewery with her husband, Kevin.
The best stuff is not complicated.
One of the National Geographic producers knew a guy who knew a guy and contacted Crazy Mountain Brewery, saying something like, “We hear you work a lot with wood!”
Actually, Crazy Mountain works a lot with hops and barley to concoct magic potions. But yeah, wood is nice too.
“You have to audition, which was odd because we’re brewers, not actors,” Marisa Selvy said.
Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, the audition was done mostly by Skype and video. And that, as they say in showbiz, was that.
GRIZZLY BOB
Nate Heim hosts Cabin Fever and owns Heim Log Homes in northern Minnesota. A character named Grizzly Bob is part of the crew.
Heim looked over the place and figured out what it would need, which turned out to be just about everything. The space used to be a tile shop, then a hydroponics grow shop. Now it’s Crazy Mountain’s office space.
Heim got some local beetle kill wood, backed up the truck and trailer, and went to work.
He and his crew transformed it from a big open room with folding tables to what looks like the interior of a log cabin.
“It was pretty stark and bare,” Marisa Selvy said. “The transformation was amazing.”
‘CABIN FEVER’
“Cabin Fever” is National Geographic’s new reality show, and unlike most reality TV, it’s actually real.
It’s produced by Stiletto Television. They do reality shows like “Treehouse Masters” on Animal Planet and some other non-scripted TV.
There are all sorts of terms for reality TV, said Noah Mark, co-executive producer for Stiletto. This is a documentary style show, which means they simply document what happens when the crew is building these projects.
Many reality shows aren’t all that real and have all sorts of manufactured moments that are supposed to create drama — but usually don’t.
“For this show, we didn’t have to do any of that. There’s plenty that happens when you’re building these structures by hand,” Mark said.
Also, if you have someone named Grizzly Bob and a truckload of power tools, drama tends to generate itself.
This is the third of five new “Cabin Fever” episodes in this season.
GOOD YEAR IN THE BREWERY BIZ
It’s been a good year for Crazy Mountain Brewery. They’ll be exporting to Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Scotland and Great Britain this spring. Later this year, they’ll expand beyond Northern Europe, and into Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and France. They’re projecting their sales in Sweden will grow 200 percent over last year.
“We started exporting beer to Sweden primarily for the notoriety of it and with the hopes that we would have a good excuse to visit Sweden from time to time,” said Kevin Selvy. “We have been absolutely astonished by how quickly our brand has taken off in the Swedish market.”
In addition to its international expansion, Crazy Mountain recently added North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan, Maine, Vermont, Arkansas and Tennessee to its national distribution channels.
Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.
