New Castle’s Super Brew IX: a great party for a great cause

Super Brew is an annual beer festival at the New Englander Banquet Center near New Castle that raises funds — a lot of funds — for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.

Held the Saturday before football’s Super Bowl and going into its ninth year, the party has raised more than $400,000 for the cause. Organizers are hoping to up that by another $60,000 or more during Super Brew IX on Jan. 27 while having a very good time.

“Our goal always is as much as possible,” says Geoff Measel, talking about both donations and fun.

His family owns and runs the Neshannock banquet center, the attached Crane Room Grille and its new addition, the CR Brewing Co. That adds 10,000 square feet to this year’s event, not to mention several house beers.

The family will be pouring all seven CR brews, plus a barrel-aged version of the kolsch, as part of the lineup of more than 70 brews, from several other regional brewers like themselves, their distributors’ breweries and area home brewers.

Each category will compete for trophies and attendees’ votes, which can be made with dollars in donation jars.

Mr. Measel laughs when he recounts his pockets bulging with beery bills the first year of the fundraiser. His family, which also runs GEM construction and where he’s now project manager, had just

taken over the restaurant and reworked it. They were looking for an event to get the word out, a la the shtick on the TV show “Restaurant: Impossible.”

The now 37-year-old Geoff, a self-described philanthropist going back to his days as a four-year captain at the Penn State Dance Marathon (that’s how he met his wife, who also was a captain), decided to help the Cancer Society, and the rest was history.

They always try to do something different with the fest’s theme and decor, but the bones are the same — Super Brew banners and ice sculptures, live entertainment, unlimited sampling in souvenir pint glasses, some free food and food for sale, including one of Geoff’s favorites: a barbecue bowl of pulled pork, mac and cheese, corn hash, coleslaw, and sriracha sauce.

Attendees have a choice of two sessions — 2-5 p.m. and 7-10 p.m. that Saturday — for $45 (plus Ticketbud.com fees). Sponsors can purchase a VIP ticket for $150 that includes admission to both plus other perks.

Because sponsorships cover costs, attendees can be assured that every dollar from their admission goes to the cancer society, says Geoff. “I think that’s a pretty cool part of the event.”

So does the cancer society’s Ernie Copper, Northeast Region community development manager. He says Team Super Brew has been its top fundraiser in New Castle for years and has won several awards, including a 2016 Excellence in Income.

“The beauty of this event is that it’s a great time for participants, and the work to pull it off is shared by several Relay for Life Teams in addition to the Super Brew Crew, all working together to raise money to save lives, celebrate lives and lead the fight for a world without cancer.

“It’s a true team effort, and I can’t wait!”

For details and tickets, go to thesuperbrew.com.