Catawba Island Brewing offers special Ukraine beer to support relief
PORT CLINTON – This week a local brewery tapped its version of a Pravda Brewery beer it has labeled Slava Ukraini and will host “Brew for Ukraine!” on Saturday, selling the special brew to support a Ukraine relief program.
“We’re excited to be part of this global beer brewing effort to help raise money for Ukraine to defend their country,” said , Michael Roder, owner of Catawba Island Brewing Company’s (CIBC) at 2330 E. Harbor Road.
The Slava Ukraini beer was tapped pm Wednesday and the fundraising event will be held noon to 11 p.m. this Saturday, at Catawba Island Brewing Co. Profits from beer sales and fundraising activities will go to Pravda Brewery’s Ukraine Relief Effort.
‘A fun way’ to help Ukrainians
“It looks like a fun way to help raise money for the effort in Ukraine,” said Roder. “Breweries kind of stick together and try to help each other out,” he added as his staff was tapping their newest brew based on a recipe from Ukrainebased Pravada Brewery. The brewery reported the beer has a citrus aroma and flavor while adding balance to the strong golden ale.
“I’m excited to brew this beer and work with other people on trying to recreate something that someone else has done – and do it justice,” said the company’s head brewer, Justin Williams.
After receiving inquiries from people all over the globe asking how they could help in relief efforts, Pravda Brewery, located in Lviv, Ukraine, provided open recipes and beer label designs for its main award-winning beers, aptly named “The Victory Series.” They then invited brewers around the world to brew the beers and donate proceeds to their Ukraine relief fund.
“We looked closely at all the recipes, raw materials, water profiles and production methods,” Roder said of the Pravda recipes. “The beer we chose had the right balance of native water chemistry, ingredients we were comfortable brewing with, and different varieties of hops we were interested in trying out. Not to mention the translation of the beers’ original name.”
Chose to brew dry-hopped golden ale
The recipe CBIC chose to brew was Pravda Brewery’s dry-hopped golden ale. In honor of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, CBIC will distribute this beer in cans and kegs under the name Slava Ukraini, which means “Glory to Ukraine,” and is often how the president concludes his speeches.
“We made a 15 barrel (500 gallon) batch and are working on a 30 barrel (1,000 gallon) to fulfill the rest of the orders that came in,” Roder noted. “We will continue brewing Slava Ukraini and sending the money back to Ukraine as long as people are still interested in buying beer to support the effort.”
He also said that Slava Ukraini will be sold by their distributors all over Ohio in cans and kegs.
“We’ve had an overwhelming amount of interest,” the company president added. “Customers have called wanting to know when they can buy a six-pack or stop by for a couple cases just to support the effort.
Bars, restaurants, grocery stores are calling
“Grocery stores, bottle shops, bars and restaurants have been calling that want to sell the beer and several of them want to host fundraisers of their own,” Roder said.
“Most breweries use a lot of the same basic ingredients to make beer (water, barley, hops, yeast and sometimes other additives like fruit, spices and nuts). Working with Pravda recipes was fun because they use interesting combinations of grains, strains of hops that you don’t normally see in the US,” Roder pointed out.
More information on CIBC is available online at Catawbaislandbrewing.com.
Patrons can follow the Catawba Island Brewing Company Facebook Page for more details, and wholesale inquiries can be directed to NWO Beverage (N.W. Ohio), Beverage Distributors (Greater Cleveland Area) and Premium Beverage (Central and Southern Ohio).
rbrooks@gannett.com