For When You Get Lost – Brings Pacific Coast Breweries to Film

It’s been quite a few years since a film featured craft beer as an integral part of the storyline. The new film For When You Get Lost has halted this drought and can be found streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango.

For When You Get Lost is an award-winning indie comedy that brings together two estranged sisters, June Stevenson (Jennifer Sorenson) and Cami (Elizabeth Alderfer), on a road trip along the Pacific Coast to visit their ailing father. The trip takes the two along the iconic US Highway 101 from Los Angeles to Whidbey Island with plenty of stops at many of the craft breweries that can be found along the scenic highway.

The film was inspired by a real-life road trip that Sorenson took along the Pacific Coast in 2013 to visit her father after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Being a fan of craft beer, white making the drive north from Los Angeles to the Puget Sound, Sorenson took time to visit craft breweries that were located along the route. 

Characters June and Cami made stops at Lost Coast Brewery, Six Rivers Brewery, Redwood Curtain Brewing Company, North Coast Brewing, Yachats Brewing, Buoy Beer Co., Fort George Brewery and Penn Cove Brewing to name a few. Unfortunately since filming wrapped up a few years ago, two of the breweries in the film have since closed. Both Yachats Brewing in Yachats, Oregon and Penn Cove Brewing in Coupeville, Washington have ceased operations recently.

Sorenson is a fan of craft beer. She not only enjoys a pint; she has also worked at a few breweries during her life. In the film, her character June proudly wears a Three Weavers Brewing hoodie while driving a Prius with a few brewery stickers plastered on it. The time that Sorenson spent at breweries in the film came natural to her. So much so that craft beer is effortlessly woven into the screenplay.

For When You Get Lost begins with June taking her Toyota Prius with a missing driver’s seat head rest from Los Angeles to the Bay Area where she picks up her sister Cami. The drive north up Highway 101 included a plethora of stops at breweries along with many scenic destinations along the way. This includes stops at Glass Beach and Avenue of the Giants in Northern California. These were locations that Sorenson visited during her original road trip. 

Farther north, the two sisters spent time at Yachats Brewing and after that are seen walking around Astoria, Oregon on the Astoria Boardwalk. The two also made stops at Fort George Brewery and the original taproom of Buoy Beer Co. Of course there were a few Goonies references as well. How could they not?

From there the two traveled to Whidbey Island to visit their father alongside members of their extended fictional family. Along the way there was plenty of conversation about life and death, debating the merits of IPA, while dealing with their father who is dying from cancer. 

In all, For When You Get Lost is a very touching story that offers plenty of comedic relief to make that subject matter a bit less deep. A perfect movie to stream over the holiday season at hand. 

To learn more about the screenwriter and lead actress, we recently interviewed Jennifer Sorenson about her character June Stevenson. This interview has been edited for brevity.

Did you grow up on Whidbey Island?

My, grandmother and my grandfather moved there to retire, I think, when I was, like, 4 or something. So I just grew up going there every summer, either for months or weeks at a time.

It’s funny now as it wasn’t like this cool place. Now it’s like I say Whidbey Island, and others are like, oh my god. It’s so beautiful. And it’s like it’s like the cool place to go now.

How many times have you driven up the west coast on US Highway 101? 

The first time I did that road trip that you see in the movie was in 2013 right before my dad died. So I went up and back, and then I did it I think the following year when my dad left me a car. So I went to go get the car. I flew up, went to go get the car, and then drove back with a friend in that car. And then I did it with my family again in 2018 or 2019. 

And then I did it several times for the movie, I did preproduction, and then we did the road trip. I’d say like 6 or 7 times that I’ve done that road trip. 

Even though I was going through a very hard time, it was so beautiful, and it was such a nice sort of respite from what I was about to face. That’s why I thought it’d be a great backdrop of a movie one day. And here we are. 

So I noticed in the film, you were wearing a Three Weavers Brewing hoodie, from Inglewood, California based brewery.

I love Three Weavers. That might be my favorite brewery in LA!

I need to ask you, what kind of beers do you enjoy drinking? 

I was introduced to craft beer when I worked at the first brewery seen in the movie, Moylan’s Brewing. I worked there in my twenties. I kind of knew about beer, but I did not know anything. Once I got there, I was like, oh my god. This is a whole new world that I didn’t know about. So I learned a lot about beer there. 

Then I did work at the Boonville festivals. My friend Mandy and I were the girls that poured the beer and got people to taste the beer and stuff like that. I just really fell in love with the culture and the people, I then continued my education in craft beer after I left. And it’s always been a safe, awesome place. If you find a brewery, there’s going to be cool people in there and there’s going to be good food!

So, yes, I do like beer. I don’t hate IPA (as portrayed in the film). Everybody asks me that. I just ask why are there so many on a menu? 

I agree, it can be challenging finding other styles that dominate the tap list so much. It’s becoming more difficult to find more traditional styles like a brown ale or even porters and stouts anymore. 

Oh my god. I love it. I woke up thinking about porter because I often get asked, what is my favorite beer? And since it’s cold right now, I’m like, porter is my favorite. Plus, I love a brown ale. 

But yeah, they don’t really have to have like, eight IPAs on tap. And they may have a red and then some sort of Pilsner, and then that’s it. I’m like, well I would like more options, please. That’s my gripe with IPAs. I do love a standard pale ale, like I talk about in the film. I just want more options!

Where the breweries in the film pretty receptive to being part of the film? How involved were they? 

My producers at first were like, how are we going to film in all of these places? And I was like, well you don’t know this community, but they’re pretty awesome. And I’m pretty sure if we get one, the rest will follow, and they’ll want to be part of it. Moylan’s was the first to sign on, mainly because I’ve worked there and they were super excited. 

And so as soon as they did, we called the other places, we said that Moylan’s has already signed on, and the others were open to it and were so supportive. A lot of them stayed open after they closed or they opened early and many of them fed us. 

I think they were excited for their brewery to be in a film. And I know that some people have gone to these breweries because of the film and have actually done the road trip because of the film. So I hope it’s really good for them, you know, now that the movie’s out.

We did screenings in the towns that we filmed. We did a one in Arcata, and it was I it was, like, my favorite screening I’ve ever been to. They were cheering the whole time. They were so excited. And I think they’re just excited to be in it. I hope that they feel like this movie was like an ode to my love for these places!

How was it working with Buoy Beer Co. and Fort George Brewery in Astoria, Oregon? 

They’ve both been super supportive. The Buoy scenes were obviously filmed before the building collapsing. Jessyka Dart–Mclean who runs the marketing at Buoy was in it with her two kids. They’re the 2 little girls that are barking with the seals.

It was so beautiful and it collapsed two weeks after we filmed. I am happy they have footage of it though.

When it came out in the theater there, we went to the pier to go look at the damage. The whole thing is gone. It was so sad!

Since its release at film festivals, For When You Get Lost has received plenty of praise. This growing list includes Austin Film Festival 2023, Audience Award Winner; Cinetopia Film Festival 2024, Audience Award Winner; Julien Dubuque International Film Festival 2024, Audience Choice; and Durango Film Festival 2024, Audience Award, Best Narrative Feature.

For When You Get Lost was written by Sorenson and directed by Michelle Steffes. It was produced  by Meredith Riley Stewart, Kerry Carlock, Jennifer Sorenson, and Alethea Root and runs for 97 minutes. To learn more about the film, visit forwhenyougetlost.com.