BREWING FOR A CAUSE
Local breweries to participate in Camp Fire Relief Fund
CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. >> Local breweries are helping out with a crisis across the country by doing what they do best: brewing beer.
Last month, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company of Chico, Calif. launched a Resilience IPA collaborative brewing project as a fundraiser to benefit the Camp Fire Relief Fund, dedicated to rebuilding and supporting the communities affected by the devastating fires in Northern California.
With the fires still raging, but the physical brewery itself unharmed, Sierra Nevada announced the upcoming release of Resilience Butte County Proud IPA with 100 percent of the beer sales directed to the relief fund.
In addition, the brewery asked others in the United States to brew Resilience and do the same.
To date, well over 1,200 breweries of all sizes and all around the nation have signed on to brew Resilience Butte County Proud IPA, for which Sierra Nevada provided the recipe.
Several Capital Region breweries have joined in the initiative, such as Brown’s Brewing Company in Troy and North Hoosick, Rare Form Brewing Company in Troy, Common Roots Brewing Company in South Glens Falls, Chatham Brewing in Chatham, Northway Brewing Company in Queensbury and Stump City Brewing in Gloversville.
“The craft brewing community is tightly knit and when the call goes out for help, we respond,” said Garry Brown of Brown’s Brewing Company, which he owns along with his wife Kelly. “With the Camp Fire directly affecting Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, we didn’t hesitate to sign on to brew Resilience IPA, and took it the next level by collaborating with our Troy neighbors, Rare Form Brewing Company.”
Kelly added, “We hope hordes of people visit our Troy and Walloomsac taprooms to support the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund in the coolest way possible - by drinking a beer!”
In Saratoga County, leaders at Common Roots Brewing Company also felt compelled to be part of the project. “Abig part of Common Roots is our commitment to our community,” said co-founder and head brewer Christian Weber. This time, that community stretched all the way across the United States when a fellow brewery asked for some assistance.
“It absolutely fit[s] our ethos,” Weber said, explaining that Common Roots is donating not only the money raised from Resilience IPA, but a portion of the proceeds from its popular Good Fortune IPA as well.
Weber was amazed by how quickly this initiative took off, and how big it’s become. “It’s kind of a spectacular event to see so many different industries and companies come together to help,” he said, noting that grain companies and distributors are involved as well. “It shows what people can do when they come together. It shows just how fast one company in California was able to organize a support system to raise an enormous amount of funds.”
Thinking ahead, Weber hopes this model can be used again to provide aid in the future. “I don’t think this has to stop just at this one event,” he said. “I think this can be something that happens all the time.”
Along with helping an important cause, Weber is also excited about actually brewing the Resilience IPA. In contrast with the Northeast-style IPAs Common Roots typically brews, “It’s a true West Coast IPA,” he said.
The Common Roots crew enjoyed brewing a recipe from a large brewery like Sierra Nevada. “They’re kind of a patriarch in the beer world, they’re one of the founders of the craft beer movement, and to brew a recipe at our brewery that they came up with, especially to support such a great cause like this, was really just awesome,” he said. “From a brewery standpoint, it was fun and I’m really excited to have this beer come out. I’m looking forward to people trying it.”
C o mmon Roo t s , Brown’s, Rare Form and many other breweries did not hesitate to donate staff time, ingredients, and tank space in order to help.
“That’s one of the things we really like about the craft beer community. Despite the fact that we are technically in competition, everyone always bands together when something like this happens,” said Brown’s brewer Dan Cramer, mentioning a similar annual ALES for ALS Foundation program the brewery participates in each year.
Lee MacCrea, another brewer at Brown’s, said, “Anytime we have a good opportunity to make some money for a good cause doing what we do, we try to take them up on it.”
The Resilience Butte County Proud IPA will be available soon locally, beginning this Saturday at Brown’s Brewing Company’s two taprooms and Rare Form Brewing Company, with the Common Roots Brewing Company release following shortly after.
More information about the Resilience IPA collaborative brewing project is available online at www.sierranevada.com.