Yes, it is a Pink IPA. And the color comes from beets! Which is literally the only way I can eat that loathsome vegetable.
With each 4-pack purchased, Eagle Rock Brewery sent $2.00 to the Keep A Breast charity.
Now onto the review, wow that is a pink head of foam on this beer and then you hold the glass up to your nose and the fresh aromas bounce around but it is hops with a citrus hint and not what we expect upon seeing a really red beer.
Hop-A-Feel is labeled a Session IPA but this is no weak sibling. No watery-ness this is full bodied and more on the border of Pale and IPA. And damn if it isn’t the prettiest beer that I have had in a long while.
Beers from The Bruery come in a bottle size and (sometimes) ABV that promotes sharing and now the Orange County brewery has announced a new bi-annual beer series, Share This.
The basics are that each release of Share This will both “spotlight unique ingredients and an important cause in a specific region.” The only constant being that the base beer will be an 11.9% ABV imperial stout.
ST:1 is an “imperial stout with Bourbon & Catimor variety coffee beans from the Cagat family farm of the highlands of Mindanao island in the Philippines.” The coffee coming to The Bruery via Mostra Coffee.
More importantly, each bottle of Share This™: Coffee produced, one dollar is donated to Free Wheelchair Mission’s efforts in the Philippines. Free Wheelchair Mission (FWM) is a nonprofit organization that provides wheelchairs at no cost to people with disabilities living in developing nations.
As if going to Sunset Beerstore wasn’t already a habit, (It is for me, for sure) now they have gone and added another reason to drive to Echo Park, their new Charity Tap program!
Here is the rundown: Each month the bar portion of the Beer Co. will be donating a portion of proceeds from a single draft line to various local and community organizations. February’s donations will go to 826LA which is right down the street helping students with after-school and weekend tutoring. All you have to do is purchase a beer from the Charity Tap line and this month, Tap #8 will be the charity line.
This way you don’t have to agonize over your beer choice. Just pick #8 this month.
I remember being up in Portland on one of my many visits and being in a taproom that was pouring a porter simply called Terry. I didn’t know then if the beer was sanctioned by the former Portland Trailblazer, Terry Porter or not and what the legal ramifications of the name were. Oh and the beer was pretty good.
Fast forward to 2016 and Gilgamesh Brewing from Salem has actually teamed up with the former Portland Trail Blazer point guard for a limited-edition charity beer.
Porter and Gilgamesh have partnered to create a new, limited-edition beer called The Terry Porter. which was brewed to raise money for the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Usually, in these instances the brewery would donate a portion of each bottle sold. But in this case both Gilgamesh and its distribution partner, Columbia Distributing, will donate $2 to the foundation for each bomber bottle AND $40 for every half-barrel keg sold in bars and restaurants across Oregon. If you happen to be in the Oregon State capital and to the Gilgamesh taproom, $1 will be donated for every Terry Porter pint purchased which is doubled to $2 during Blazer games.
Green Flash Brewing Co. have brewed up their 4th beer in the “Treasure Chest” program, their annual beer release “to raise funds for breast cancer charities” The 2014 edition is a pink-hued Barrel Aged Saison with Plum that will be featured on tap at every Treasure Chest from San Diego to Virginia Beach event through the end of October 2014. Green Flash will donate one dollar from every full pour of Treasure Chest beer sold to a breast cancer charity in each of the cities where events are being held.”
Someone should really draw up a website that features charity beer and their related events. It is hard to keep with them all.
To be blunt, I have had a few more misses than hits* from Green Flash Brewing but I do highly applaud there new charitable action like the….. “Brewing It Forward initiative, a charitable program built to benefit grassroots humanitarian organizations. On June 26, Green Flash will hold a kick-off event for Brewing It Forward where the San Diego series beers will debut, and a portion of proceeds from sales of all three will be donated to local charities.”
Since I am Los Angeles based, I decided to review Southern California beers to start off 2012. I probably will review many more before the year is out. So, without further ado, here are my video thoughts on More Brown than Black a collaboration between Stone Brewing, The Alchemist and Ninkasi Brewing…..
And here are some thoughts from Stone Brewmaster Mitch Steele,
“Appearance: Deep brown, a bit hazy, with tan foam.
Aroma: Whoa! This beer is all about, resiny, piney, dank and citrusy hops! The first shot is intense blend of pine and orange rind, and then as your sense of smell just starts to recover, the dankness and resiny herbaceousness come through with hints of grapefruit. This is a powerful hop blend!
Taste: The hops also dominate the flavor of this beer. Orange and grapefruit rind take center stage in the flavor, followed by, you guessed it: piney / resiny notes. The beer has a modest body…not sweet at all…and has a lingering bitter, drying end. Beyond the bitter end there are light hints of roasted malt and chocolate in the finish.
Overall: The hop character in this beer is unique and very pronounced. Galaxy is a newer hop variety from Australia that we think has strong tropical fruit and stone fruit characteristics. Citra and Delta are newer American hop varieties — Citra possesses strong citrus and dank flavors, while Delta has a milder profile with melon and berry notes. And of course Nelson Sauvin from New Zealand has its intense namesake’s white wine notes along with—surprise!—more dank notes. They all blended together well in this beer, a tribute to one of our favorite styles.”
Times are tough but it looks like the world inside the bar is still welcoming, if not more so than in the past. Breweries are as charitable as ever with time and beer and now a group of bartenders in New York are pitching in to help.
The Barman’s Fund pools the money of bartenders to be given to a charity. I think that each city with a thriving cocktail or beer or wine scene should get in on this idea. And maybe get one of the 1% to throw down some matching money too.
Another day, another beer for charity. By now, I think you could probably spend an entire year just drinking brews for a cause. It is one of the reasons why I love the craft beer. Kudos to Skagit River
