A Very Vermont Christmas (2024)
A surprisingly festive brew
Every now and then, there’s an entry to the Countdown to Christmas that seems to come a bit out of left field and rise above the fluff of the pack that form the bulk of the holiday fare.
Joy is a local Vermont brewmaster and brewpub owner, struggling to stay afloat in the face of the big breweries. Zac is a sales rep for one of said breweries. Conflict - check! A chance physical run-in (obvs) on the ski hill leads to ample opportunities to get to know each other over blind beer tastings and ski lessons, while also avoiding Joy’s former flame. A stolen beer recipe! Ugly sweaters! And what I really noticed was that the setting didn’t feel as small as they often do in these movies. Usually the low budgets mean everything just feels tight - cramped sets, minimal cast, etc. This one didn’t suffer from that feeling at all. It was probably thanks to outdoor shots on a ski hill to be honest.
Now, I tend to think that these movies err on the side of too much unrealistic romance. Like sorry, dude in a flannel shirt, your high school girlfriend who lives in NYC and wears pencil skirts and Louboutins probably doesn’t want to move into your 3-room farmhouse and raise miniature horses, you know what I’m saying.
This movie was different - it had many of the markers of a classic Christmas movie, centered around beer (a first for Hallmark?), and some actual heat*. I could believe this was a legit romance.
Kudos, Hallmark, you got me with this one.
*Hallmark heat. This isn’t a Laurie Gilmore adaptation. #IYKYK
