BEER FOR A CAUSE
Craft brews benefit nonprofit to boost youth music programs
Craft beer was the “secret sauce” John R. F. Nichols needed to catapult his nonprofit benefiting youth music programs to the next level.
Nichols has tapped 41 breweries throughout the country to be part of his nonprofit Craft for Causes collaboration with the Tedeschi Trucks Band. The participating breweries were asked to make a special “Wheels of Soul” creation to be offered at the blues-rock band’s “Wheels of Soul” tour stops and at the prospective breweries. Information on the tour stops, breweries and more is available at craftforcauses.org.
Locally, Nichols was able to get La Cumbre Brewing Co., Left Turn Distilling, Marble Brewery, Palmer Craft Brewery & Cider House, Santa Fe Brewing Co., and Steel Bender Brewyard on board. La Cumbre, Marble and Santa Fe Brewing offerings will be available at the Tedeschi Trucks show on July 27 at Sandia Resort & Casino Amphitheater. La Cumbre created All That I Need, a dry-hopped Kellerbier; Marble is offering Pale Ale, Santa Fe Brewing made Altbier and Steel Bender came up with Black [Hole Sun] IPA as their Wheels of Soul beers. Palmer created the only cider, and Left Turn has a special cocktail offering made with its spirits, according to Nichols. All the Wheels of Soul creations are available at each of the locations, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Craft for Causes.
“It all started last year with Marble,” Nichols said. “I asked (Marble president and co-owner) Ted (Rice) if he would brew a Wheels of Soul beer and sell it in the taprooms for one month leading up to the show and give me $1 a pint,” Nichols said. “I told him, ‘You charge the customers the dollar and let them know they are the ones making the contribution.’ I don’t know him. I just met him, and I was like it seems almost too easy. I called him a month later he said I think it’s a great idea.”
Marble was not the only one on board. Tedeschi Trucks jumped on it after Nichols, who the band had worked with in the past, met with band members to discuss the nonprofit.
“You guys are leaving more of a footprint on these cities, and it’s something for your fans, and it builds fan loyalty,” Nichols told the band. “No other tour is giving back the way we are doing. We are trying to start something new like the PGA. Every tournament benefits a nonprofit. They come up with something for each tournament.”
Nichols is looking to raise $100,000 this year for Craft for Causes.
“What makes my nonprofit a little different is it’s a nonprofit where the money goes directly to Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation,” he said. “They take the money we raise in each community and give it to them. It is all going to fund school music programs, to buy instruments for the kids, and help fund these programs. My vision is literally we’re leaving a trail of musical instruments in our path.”