The Brew Lounge: Charity Fundraisers

Showing posts with label Charity Fundraisers. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

They brewed for a great cause, now it's our turn to drink for the same - Resilience IPA for Butte County, California

Earlier this month, I tracked down nearly 30 SEPA, NJ, and Del. breweries that reportedly were taking part in the nationwide call to charitable brewing. Plenty more came on board since then.

It was the Sierra Nevada-led project for the devastating Camp Fire near Chico, Calif. Here's the background story and here's an updated story from Sierra Nevada.

Following are those area breweries that I could find a release party/fundraising event tied to the release of their respective Resilience IPA. If you know of one that I missed, please feel free to drop a note to me, or respond in the comments with details. I'll keep this updated over the next couple of days so it can serve as the most complete list possible in the region.

I think it's safe to say that the beer brewing industry has never seen an undertaking such as this. What a project; cheers!

Now On Tap
~ at La Cabra in Berwyn, Pa. — "La Cabra is honored to participate in the efforts and hope you will support the movement along with us."

~ at Tröegs Independent Brewing in Hershey, Pa. — "The proceeds from this beer will go to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund to support those affected by the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history."

Thursday, Dec. 20
~ beginning at 11 a.m. at Round Guys in Lansdale, Pa. — "100% of all sales will go to the Camp Fire Relief Fund."

~ beginning at 11 a.m. at Two Rivers Brewing in Easton, Pa. — "100% of SALES going to those affected in the Camp Fire disaster in Butte County California."

~ beginning at 11:30 a.m. at Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant in Philadelphia, Pa., center city location — "100% of the sales will be donated to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund, benefiting those devastated by the Butte County wildfires."

~ beginning at 11:30 a.m. at Roy-Pitz Barrel House in Philadelphia, Pa. — "100% of the proceeds of Resilience IPA go to support the Camp Fire Relief Fund."

~ beginning at 12 p.m. at Wallenpaupack Brewing in Hawley, Pa. — "Donating 100% of sales of Resilience IPA to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund to support those impacted by the Camp Fire."

~ beginning at 3 p.m. at Aston Abbey in Aston, Pa. — "We will be donating 100% of the money raised by the sale of this beer to the Camp Fire Relief Fund."

~ beginning at 3 p.m. at Lost Tavern in Hellertown, Pa. — "100% of the proceeds of this beer are going to those affected in the Camp Fire disaster in Butte County, CA."

~ beginning at 4 p.m. at Bonn Place Brewing in Bethlehem, Pa. — "Every Dollar of every sale is going to these efforts."

~ beginning at 4 p.m. at Brewery Techne/Bar Hygge in Philadelphia, Pa. — "Come get it whilst it lasts and drink for a good cause."

~ beginning at 4 p.m. at Brothers Kershner in Skippack, Pa. — "100% of Resilience IPA sales go to Sierra Nevada’s Camp Fire Relief Fund."

~ beginning at 4 p.m. at Crime & Punishment in Philadelphia, Pa. — "100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund."

~ beginning at 4 p.m. at Evil Genius in Philadelphia, Pa. — "100% of proceeds go back to help victims of the CA camp fire."

~ beginning at 4 p.m. at Goose Island in Philadelphia, Pa. — "In support of those affected by the Camp Fire, 100% of all sales will go to Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund."

~ beginning at 4 p.m. at Neshaminy Creek Brewing in Croydon, Pa. — "Proceeds will 100% be going towards the Camp Fire Relief Fund."

~ beginning at 4 p.m. at Zeroday Brewing in Harrisburg, Pa. — "The money for every Pint, Crowler and Growler fill will be donated to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund."

~ beginning at 4:30 p.m. at Earth Bread + Brewery in Philadelphia, Pa. — "All of the proceeds are being donated to victims of the California wild fires in Butte County CALIFORNIA."

~ beginning at 5 p.m. at Brewery ARS in Philadelphia, Pa. — "100% of the sales of the Resilience IPA will be donated to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund, aimed at long-term community rebuilding support."

~ beginning at 5 p.m. at Ever Grain in Camp Hill, Pa. — "100% of sales will be donated to help the people of Butte County rebuild their community."

~ beginning at 5 p.m. at Wissahickon Brewing in Philadelphia, Pa. — "We are donating 100% of Resilience sales to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund to help Butte County rebuild its community."

~ beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Funk Brewing in Emmaus, Pa. — "100% of the proceeds of this beer are going to those affected in the Camp Fire disaster in Butte County, CA."

~ beginning at 7 p.m. at Death Of The Fox in Clarksboro, NJ — "Come out to show your Christmas spirit by supporting this noble cause."

Friday, Dec. 21
~ beginning at 11 a.m. at Dogfish Head in Milton & Rehoboth Beach, Del. — "100% of its sales will be donated to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund."

~ beginning at 11 a.m. at Pizza Boy Brewing/Al's of Hampden in Enola, Pa. — "100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund."

~ beginning at 3 p.m. at Flying Fish in Somerdale, NJ — "Releasing Resilience IPA to help raise funds for the Camp Fire Relief Fund."

~ beginning at 4 p.m. at Love City Brewing in Philadelphia, Pa.

~ beginning at 5 p.m. at Imprint Brewing in Hatfield, Pa. — "100% of all sales will go to the Camp Fire Relief Fund."

Saturday, Dec. 22
~ beginning at 11 a.m. at St. Boniface in Ephrata, Pa. — "100% of Resilience sales to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund to help Butte County rebuild its community."

~ beginning at 11 a.m. at Bube's Brewery in Mount Joy, Pa. — "100% of the proceeds will go to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund. Every penny will go to cause."

~ beginning at 11:30 a.m. at Columbia Kettle Works in Columbia, Pa. — "100% of the sales will be donated to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund to help Butte County rebuild its community."

~ beginning at 11:30 a.m. at Spring House in Lancaster, Pa. — "All sales of this beer will go to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund to help those affected rebuild their community."

~ beginning at 12 p.m. at Black Forest Brewery in Ephrata, Pa. — "100% of the proceeds from our allotment will be donated to help those affected by the wildfires in California."

~ beginning at 12 p.m. at Fetish Brewing in Lititz, Pa.

~ beginning at 12 p.m. at Mad Chef Craft Brewing in East Petersburg, Pa. — "Proceeds benefits the Northern California wildfire relief."

~ beginning at 12 p.m. at Pour Man's Brewing in Ephrata, Pa. — "100% of the proceeds will be donated."

~ beginning at 12 p.m. at Wacker Brewing in Lancaster, Pa. — "Each pint will be $6 and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to California fire relief."

~ beginning at 12 p.m. at Stoudts in Adamstown, Pa. — "We will donate 100% of Resilience sales to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund to help Butte County rebuild its community."

~ beginning at 1 p.m. at Lunacy Brewing in Haddon Heights, NJ — "We will be donating 100% of the proceeds to this great cause."

© Bryan J. Kolesar and The Brew Lounge, 2018. All content is owned and uniquely created by Bryan J. Kolesar. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from Kolesar is strictly prohibited. Excerpts, images, and links may be used with advance permission granted and only provided that full and clear credit is given to Bryan J. Kolesar and The Brew Lounge with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Contact Kolesar at TheBrewLounge@gmail.com

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Who's brewing today, and why, on #GivingTuesday

I can't think of a better reason to awaken this dusty beer blog than for a topic quite befitting of #GivingTuesday.

I have long ties to Northern California - personal, professional, and beer/wine/food. Beginning in October of last year and through August of this year, I visited for the first time or revisited nearly all of the breweries in the Bay Area and north that for long have set the baseline for today's surging American beer scene (take it easy there Asheville, Denver, Philly, Portland, San Diego, and Seattle, I've got plenty of love for you too). Sierra Nevada was one of them.

My first ever (finally, I know right?!) visit to Chico was an incomparable holy grail type of visit and so it should be of no surprise that the news of the devastating Camp Fire during the last month caught me off guard when I mapped Paradise, Calif. to discover it only approximately 15 minutes from Chico. It should come with even less surprise that even while the fire was still in the process of being contained, a beer industry leader and pioneer that is Sierra Nevada stepped up to coordinate relief efforts.

Sierra Nevada said that they would brew a special beer and donate 100% of gross sales, yes, folks, gross sales, to the newly-established Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund. (I'll save my opinion for another day about organizations that donate a dollar of every beer sold during a two-hour period or, worse yet from my perspective, 10% of net proceeds instead of sales.) Doesn't sound like enough? They seeded the fund with $100,000.

The beer? They're calling it Resilience Butte County Proud IPA. Further, Sierra Nevada asked breweries across the country to do the same. And asked malt, hops, and yeast vendors to "provide raw ingredient donations" (I hope that's true and would certainly symbolize the industry coming together for this cause.)

Today is brew day and by the looks of social media, brewers are doing their job so that, later in December and into January, we'll be able to do our job and purchase/drink/repeat this beer. As this country nears 7,000 brewing establishments, it's impressive to see in the ballpark of 1,000 brewers (according to the SN website) commit to the effort. Here's hoping it's even more than that. No doubt this shows the bedrock camaraderie is still alive that once defined, almost without question, this micro segment of the industry.

I did a quick skim on the list for breweries in Philly and the wider SEPA, NJ, DE brewing region. Hoping I didn't miss any, here are the ones that jumped out to me as our locals that we can be proud of in their support of this worthy endeavor on #GivingTuesday.

P.S. Do you want to make a homebrewed version of Resilience? The AHA provided the recipe supplied by Sierra Nevada and scaled it for homebrewers. Here it is.

Aston Abbey
Brewery Techne
Broken Goblet
Brothers Kershner
Death of the Fox
Dogfish Head
Earth Bread + Brewery
East Branch
Eight & Sand
Ever Grain
Fetish Brewing Company
Flying Fish
Goose Island Brewhouse-Philadelphia
Imprint
Iron Hill
La Cabra
Love City
Mad Chef
Pizza Boy
Round Guys
Second District
St. Boniface
Stoudts
Tired Hands
Tröegs
Two Rivers
Urban Village
Wacker
Wallenpaupack
Zeroday

Monday, May 14, 2018

Sat. May 19 is a big day for you, if you like great beer

Every month is a good month for beer, but each year there's something special about the May calendar of events at Philly area bars and breweries. Warmer weather certainly plays a part as outdoor events become much more popular. Started last week with the Bock Fest & Goat Races at Sly Fox and continues this week.

In Philly? check out the All Star Craft Beer & Wine Festival at the magnificent venue — Citizens Bank Park. I attended last year (on a comp'ed media pass, for the record) and fully endorse this as a top-notch festival with an impressive backdrop as well as the ability to walk the bases, and dugout, at the home of the Phillies.

And when in the city on Saturday, do as I do (and as I did last year) and make a pit stop before the ballpark at South Philadelphia Tap Room for the og hazy — Wheat Beer. They're listing more than 30 wheat beers, many local, some from farther away. It's also an outdoor festival, complete with live music and special food options. Again, highly recommended.

Finally, the awesome suburban town of Media is home to Iron Hill's 18th annual Brandywine Valley Craft Brewers' Festival. It's one of the region's most eagerly anticipated beer events of the spring and is a fundraiser for Media Youth Center. And thinking of the weather, if it should rain (as it has in the past), Iron Hill does a great job of covering the entire festival in large canopy tents. No excuses!

See you at one of these I trust?

Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Breastfest Beer Festival in San Francisco continues its excellence as one of the best regional fests

(Natalie Cilurzo of Russian River and Mike "Tasty" McDole showing off the proper colors representing the meaning behind the annual Breastfest Beer Festival in San Francisco)

For a full gallery of pictures, please link here over to Facebook. And, while you're there, here's a shameless plug for you to hit "Like" if you've not already done so. Thanks as always for your support.

The 2013 Breastfest may now be three weeks in our rear view mirrors, but when we are talking about a well-executed beer festival — one of the best regional showcases of beer on the West Coast, and a charitable fundraiser to boot — it's easy (and deserved) to share with you still today.

The annual Breastfest beer festival serves as a fundraiser for the Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic, which assists low-income women with cancer. This year, the host brewery and organizer, Marin Brewing Company, happily announced that they made a $40,000 donation to the Clinic due to the success of the festival that saw roughly 2,000 pass through the gates.

The festival returned to the Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason Center, perfectly situated at one of the northernmost points in the visually-stunning City By The Bay. Over seventy breweries were in attendance along with four wineries and three cider companies and complimented by plenty of food and non-alcoholic beverage options as well.

Beer festivals are as popular as ever with the constantly widening base of the craft beer pyramid. While I and others like me that have been around "the scene" for quite some time may have long ago tired of the mostly typical beer festival format, Breastfest has found ways in which to make it enjoyable both for newbies and veterans alike.

Attractive venue: This is the fourth year that the Festival Pavilion has hosted Breastfest after having moved from Marin Brewing Company in Larkspur in favor of a larger venue. Not only is the location much larger (much!), instead of a suburban parking lot as a backdrop, attendees have the pleasure of looking out over San Francisco Bay, Coit Tower, Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate Bridge. In addition to these permanent fixtures, this year's festival-goers had the unique opportunity to witness preliminary stage racing in the America's Cup/Louis Vuitton Cup yacht racing event which is ongoing into September. After the festival, folks could make the short walk to the America's Cup Village, Crissy Field, Ghirardelli Square, Fisherman's Wharf, or the Embarcadero. No doubt that Breastfest definitely has the attractive venue checked off the list.

Volunteers: For any event of significant undertaking, the value that volunteers add to the successful execution of the event can never be emphasized nearly enough. Breastfest has volunteers successfully pulling off their duties beginning with the quick and efficient entry to the festival all the way through to serving and constant venue cleanup.

Attending brewers: This is a big one for me. Obviously, with craft breweries (and their supporting staffs) more in demand than ever, it's impossible for key brewery personnel to be at all events, particularly concurrent ones. So when you see a majority of brewery tables at a festival with owners and/or brewers and/or other key sales or other brewery personnel milling around, chatting, or serving, you must know that the event draws a deserving respect that adds to the overall quality and karma of the event. You can see from the pictures I've included here that the Breastfest certainly does get the love and respect from Bay Area brewers.

Available food: You know how too many beer festivals put out a lame attempt at satisfying some perceived level of responsibility for providing food to paying/drinking attendees? And how that food typically falls woefully short in both quality and quantity? How the supplies run short barely half way through the event? Or how at many events, food is available at an extra charge? At Breastfest, there are no such worries. Marin Brewing Company, Moylan's Brewery and Restaurant, Ross Valley Kitchen, Kama Food Lab, and Three Twins Ice Cream took care of the pasta salad, Caesar salad, nacho chips, sandwiches, and ice cream that were available in plentiful supply and right up until the closing bell. The ice cream had a beer tie-in as one was made with Marin's Abbey Special and one was called Black and Blue made with San Quentin's Breakout Stout and Bluebeery Ale.

Non-alcoholic beverages: If I might (and it's a very soft 'might') give an event a break for dropping the ball on making decent food, and enough of it, available throughout the festival, I will not (emphasize, will never) tap dance around how irresponsible festival organizers are for not supplying non-alcoholic beverages. Plenty of it. And, here's the big one, Included In The Admission Price. I don't care if it's donated or if the organizers pay for it. Charging an extra buck or two for each bottle of water is greedy and irresponsible. If I used profanity here at The Brew Lounge, this diatribe would get even nastier. Oh, but wait. This piece is about Breastfest. At this year's installment of Breastfest, waters, teas, seltzers, energy drinks, and vitamin-fortified beverages were all available. Not on a small table in a corner served up in small cups by volunteers. On large, main center tables as well as scattered throughout at occasional brewery tables. In plentiful supply until attendees were walking out the door at the closing of the event. Well done, Breastfest, well done indeed.

Music and Miscellaneous: While music may not be the most critical component in a well-run beer festival, when it's a cover band that provides a ton of fun singalong party songs for people to swing and sway (there was some jumping and jiving as well), it can take on a life of its own and add a really fun element to the event. This year, it was Wonder Bread 5 replete in their outrageously colorful outfits covering party hits from the 80s through the 00s. In addition to the live music, raffles, skee ball, photo booths, and probably other miscellaneous fun 'n' games were available to keep the crowd happy and energetic.

Event duration: Four hours to take in everything I've shared with you here. That's enough time to take in the scenery, socialize with friends, learn a bit from brewers, eat, rock out to live music, and drink great beers. Five hours is plenty of time to get your buzz on, but it's also the right amount of time to take your time in doing so. The first hour or two builds slowly and a bit quietly to a crescendo that occurs somewhere in the second half when the fun cover party band takes it home in the last couple hours. But, for as much fun as most are appearing to have, seeing people falling over drunk or embarrassing themselves in other ways is just something I have not seen. I must believe that it's due, in part, to the five hour duration and contributed to by the ample food and non-alcoholic beverage supply.

p.s. and The Beers: I should probably not leave this piece unfinished without a few shout-outs to some of the best-slash-most-interesting beers that I encountered during Breastfest 2013. Everyone always seems to want to ask my opinion, so without going into a ton of detail, the following deserve to be heard from - and tasted - based upon my impressions at Breastfest 2013:

  Moonlight Reality Czeck Pils (and really most anything else this northern California gem/staple is pouring);

  Ale Industries Uncle Jesse (because Session IPAs usually work for me and this one, at a few ticks over 5%, did not disappoint);

  Strike Brown (believe I've said plenty my piece about these South Bay new guys on the block doing mostly session-able beers);

  Sonoma Springs Slownoma Saison (quite possibly one of my best-in-shows from the fest);

  Iron Spring Kent Lake Kölsch (one of these excellent bottles made its way back east with me, that's how very good this is);

  Linden Street Hop Candi (what a pleasant surprise this "Heavy Hop Aroma, Light Sweet Taste", 4.5%/9 IBU beer was; truly a delight and a hop myth buster);

  Bear Republic Café Racer 15 (perhaps this is a different approach than the aforementioned Hop Candi, but oh my juicy, Citra, hophead friends, this is a big tasty treat);

  and Russian River Brewing Company (do I have to say their name? well, of course I do, when they are consistently one of the best).

After having attended for the second consecutive year, you can probably read me correctly if you hear me saying that Breastfest is a beer festival model. How they continue to keep the festival affordable (by today's rapidly escalating admission price standards) at $50-$60 is an accomplishment as well. If there is behind-the-scenes scuttlebutt that I'm not privy to, that may be possible. But, from this side of the table, I hope to return again in the future to taste some of the best from northern California and support a great cause and encourage you to do so as well.

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

Please help me raise money for NYC

Most of you know that since 2005, I've put a lot of time and energy into promoting great beer here at The Brew Lounge. I've also talked a bit about my love for running and the intersection of the beer and running worlds. Even put on annual "beer run" event during Philly Beer Week.

I don't ask for any financial support directly in return from any of you. Indirectly, perhaps. Like now.

Instead of the 2012 NYC Marathon last weekend, I'll be running the Harrisburg Marathon this coming Sunday, November 11.

I've set up a way for you to support me by supporting the Central Park Conservancy. Many of you have likely found a way to donate (probably) to the American Red Cross, primarily for humanitarian relief funding in the aftermath of Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy. That is a very good place to direct donations.

Here is a chance to support the wonderful Central Park in Manhattan, which also suffered quite a bit of damage. The money you donate to the foundation will aid in the rehabilitation and ongoing mainenance of the Park.

If you've ever walked, rode, ran, picnicked, or otherwise enjoyed Central Park, you know what a treasure it is for the City. Heck, if you've enjoyed any Park anywhere, you know how important they are to a community's fabric.

Please show your support for me and the work I do here at The Brew Lounge by visiting the donation page and contributing to this worthwhile cause. No financial benefit whatsoever comes back to me through this endeavor.

[Link to Crowdrise donation page.]

Cheers,
Bryan

Sunday, July 22, 2012

12th Annual Breastfest Beer Festival & Charity Fundraiser: July 14, 2012

12th Annual Breastfest Beer Festival

(click the picture for a full gallery of pictures from the event)

At the conclusion of my recent week of work in the San Francisco Bay Area, I had the privilege to stick around an extra day and attend a festival that I've heard many great things about in the past: Breastfest.

It's a festival that has been around since 2000 and gets high marks, particularly since its move to the Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason in San Francisco three years ago. This has provided much more space to grow the festival which features primarily northern California breweries, both large and small, as well as some wine and food purveyors and live music.

For a more complete review, check out my article in the Communities section of The Washington Times.

And a full picture gallery over at Picasa.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Big money went to the rescue at All 4 Paws and big hoppy beers to the people at The Drafting Room

Preliminary returns show just over $3,000 being raised at The Drafting Room for the local All 4 Paws animal rescue.

Big congrats to Howard at TDR and Kristen Schlichtig at All 4 Paws (and her team of volunteers) who capped off a successful week of fundraising with a list of fresh hop/harvest/or otherwise hop-forward beers and an incredible list of raffle prizes from around the region.

Head over to my Twitter page for a few pictures from the event. Yup, probably still one more week without a non-mobile computer.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Trust me, this is where you want to be on November 26...tomorrow at The Drafting Room

Our 1-year-old puppy, Callie, came from South Carolina courtesy of All 4 Paws animal rescue. It's based out of northern Chester County and The Drafting Room has their back this weekend.

I can't quite figure how The Drafting Room pulled this one off, but damn impressive it is.

Tomorrow, Saturday November 26, The Drafting Room is throwing a big party.

All this week, raffle tickets have been on sale this week for $5 per ticket.

All day long, it's Hop-forward beers where 15% of draft sales go to this worthy and well-run animal rescue organization.

(Here's a tip: If you haven't already tried the Yards Cerebus, this is your heads-up alert.)

At 7 p.m. it's the drawing for the following prizes. Do yourself and the animals a favor and join in the fun and fundraiser. Here's a rundown of what you could go home with.

Chester County Restaurant Gift Card Package ($150 value)
$50 gift card to Tango, $50 gift card to 333 Belrose, and $50 gift card to Brickside Grille

Retail Bundle ($125 value)
$50 gift card to Giant Food store, $25 gift card to Old Navy, and $50 gift card to Bed, Bath, and Beyond

Beer Bar Tour ($150 value)
$50 gift card to Station Taproom, $50 gift card to Teresa’s Next Door, and $50 gift card to The Drafting Room Taproom & Grille

Beer Package ($125 value)
Five Liter Bell’s Oberon Mini Keg and $75 gift card to Sierra Nevada Brewery

Gourmet Beer Basket ($50 value)
Victory Dark Intrigue, Brooklyn Black Ops, Sierra Nevada Estate Homegrown Ale, and Unibroue 2005 Edition

Microbrewery Experience ($150 value)
$50 gift card to Victory, $50 gift card to >Earth, Bread, & Brewery, and $50 gift card to Iron Hill

Fitness Package ($160 value)
Three Month Gym Membership at Tennis Addiction Fitness Club plus 1 Hour Massage

Flyers Tickets ($150 value)
2 tickets to see the Flyers play at the Wells Fargo Center

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Glassblowing, Victory Beer, and fundraising for PAWS

(A handblown beer glass, quite near perfect)

Hudson Beach Glass has been in the Gilvey family for many years and based out of the Hudson River Valley town of Beacon, approximately 90 minutes north of NYC.

Three years ago, Sean Gilvey and his wife Emily opened a Philadelphia location in Old City. Bonus points for anyone who knows that Strawberry Street also runs parallel between 2nd and 3rd Streets along with Bank Street. Tucked away (behind Amada, to get your bearings) would be a fine way to describe the handblown glass studio's location.

This past Friday evening, the Gilvey's hosted an open house of sorts to showcase their wares, serve some beer and cheese, and raise critical contributions for Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society (PAWS).

Let this be a gentle reminder to get your deductible charitable contributions in before tax year-end.

The cheese was from DiBruno Bros. and the beer from Victory. The brewery's Regional Sales Manger, Pete Danford, and his wife stopped by on their date night out and an estimated 35 people stopped in to kick off the crisp fall evening in the city.

A beer glass can be perfect for different reasons to different people. With all apologies to Boston Beer Company and its "perfect" beer glass, this take-home gift (see above) from the studio might quickly become a new favorite of mine. It fits quite well in the hand and it is imprinted with a dog paw on the side.

(from left: Victory's Pete Danford and Hudson Beach's Emily Kimelman-Gilvey and Sean Gilvey)

(Sean Gilvey demonstrating at the furnace)

(Volunteers from PAWS poured samples of Victory's Headwaters Pale Ale, Prima Pils, and HopDevil)

("Hand-crafted" cheese near by handcrafted glass)

(A room full of people soon crowded Hudson Beach Glass)

Monday, September 05, 2011

Beer for charity and for fun at The Beer Yard and Sly Fox

I'm so behind in so many things that it's beginning to get a bit sad. And here in these parts is where this guy Uncle Jack comes into play. For the first time in who can tell how long, our paths crossed twice in two days. He's on the ball and has got the stories and pictures up at his site to prove it. So before I go on any longer here, please check out the following first and then come back for the rest of my story which will be told in pictures. It's easier, I can move on, many of you prefer the pictures to my incessant wont to write wordy words, and it may or may not help to retrieve my Wikio ranking which took a tumble in the dog days of August to #21.

SPCA charity fundraiser at The Beer Yard in Wayne [courtesy JackCurtin.com]
Kan Jam at Sly Fox in Phoenixville [courtesy JackCurtin.com]
Kan Jam at Sly Fox [courtesy Sly Fox facebook page]

(Nick Johnson of Tröegs with Matt Guyer, Beer Yard's Beer Guy in charge)

(The charitable crowd of beer and dog lovers at The Beer Yard in Wayne, Pa. on 9/3/11)

(Jack & Buddy Curtin)

(Buddy Curtin on the hunt for some hot dogs)

(Tigger and Callie Kolesar, co-conspirators)

(Andy Dickerson, sole conspirator, proprietor of Teresa's Next Door)

(Apparently Fido likes a different kind of Scratch)

(Instead of the National Anthem, a "cheers" to kick off the Inaugural Kan Jam at Sly Fox in Phoenixville, Pa. on 9/4/11)

(Nick Johnson tries to remind Corey Reid of his past success at Kan Jam....Corey seems to be having none of it)

(Team Kolesar & Johnson may have fared better on court 3 or 4)

(4 divisions, 16 teams)

(Corey Reid of Sly Fox demonstrates Kan Jam scoring)

(Raina seems to be saying that I don't look like the official Sly Fox photographer)

(Kan Jam competition continued for hours through the muggy afternoon)

Friday, September 02, 2011

This beer event approved by Man's Best Friends

(click to enlarge)

We didn't know it at the time but the SPCA fundraiser event last year at The Beer Yard marked our good ol' girl Logan's last official beer event.

Last year's weekend-long event tallied 96 cases and a $1,091 donation.

That's pretty good; but, I think we can all help The Beer Yard, Teresa's, and Tröegs do even better than that this year. I think that between the food, the dog collars, the beer, and other miscellaneous donations, we could see at least 120 cases and nearly $1,500 in donations. What do you think?

(for background, check out my bits that I put up at The Brew Lounge and a bit more over at The Washington Times)

For Logan and all of man's (and woman's) best friends out there, please consider stopping by The Beer Yard sometime before the end of the weekend and contributing to a worthy cause.

If you stop by on Saturday from 1pm-4pm, you'll get much more than just a simple taste and fundraiser. There'll be food, snacks, and more. The weather looks pretty decent, plus you need to eat and drink at some point on Saturday anyway, right?

I'll have proprietor Matt Guyer share all of the details with you instead....

It's time for our annual SPCA fundraiser this weekend. Here are the details:

Thursday - Monday
For every case of Tröegs sold at the Beer Yard this weekend $5.00 will be donated to the Delco SPCA

Friday - Sunday
Go to Teresa's and write SPCA and write on your bill and they will donate 10% of your check. As a bonus they are having some great draft beers on this weekend as part of their "End and Odd" weekend.

Saturday Afternoon at the Beer Yard from 1pm - 4pm
The Famous Nick Johnson will be here doing a sampling of his beers, with hopefully a few surprises. We will be cooking Hot Dogs from Butcher Bill. If you have not had, these are some of the best Dogs you will ever taste.

There will be $2.00 donation per dog. By request we will have some of his burgers too, figure a $5.00 donation for them.

Nick will also have Tröegs Bottle Opener Dog Collars ( <<--click for a picture ) for sale as well, with a portion of that sale going to the SPCA. Please forward this to any and all of your dog loving friends.

(Logan, 1997-2011)

Thursday, July 07, 2011

Get Mad for a good reason at Monk's...on Monday

It may be tempting (really tempting) to look ahead to an August Monday afternoon of Cantillon at Monk's....

....but, please focus on this coming Monday first and do what you can to help.

Tom Peters and the crew at Monk's have turned this Monday's Dogfish Head event into a fundraiser for Ray Deter's teenage sons.

It's a significant fundraiser for a dear friend of Tom's and the craft brewing and restaurant/bar industries.

Check out all the details and available beer at this link.

Monday, May 02, 2011

Victory over Cancer

I missed promoting this when it was kicked off, so here's a late notice to help Victory help one of their own become Woman of the Year. Victory employee Berry Woodrow McLaughlin battled cancer at the age of 15 and is the subject of a fundraiser that ends Wednesday, May 4.

With a donation at the bar, restaurant table, or retail shop, your donation will go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, will help Berry's chances of being nominated Woman of the year, and will get you entered into a raffle to become a Victory brewer for a day.

So head over to Victory Tuesday or Wednesday and make your donation. [Link to Victory's website with all the details]

Or, if you can't get to Victory, go straight to her donation page and do your part to help out.

Friday, April 08, 2011

Great upcoming events at 4 of my favorite Chester County spots over the next 3 weekends that are 2 good to miss.

I'm slowly coming out of my writing funk after our rough last week and a half. I've got a pretty good story about our dog Logan and dogs and beer in general that is almost finished.

But, before I get to any serious writing, here's a quick plug for four of my favorite places in Chester County and worthwhile looking stuff that they're doing over the next three weeks.

The Drafting Room, Sat. 4/9 - This is tomorrow, folks. It's an "all-local" event. But, not just any "all-local" event. The Drafting Room is celebrating their Top 25 ranking (#24 to be exact) on Rate Beer's annual polling for the country's best beer bars. They're celebrating by rolling out some more of the unique local beers that cannot always be readily found. The most usual suspect is Stoudt's Pils and I would suspect that we'd all agree that ain't too shabby. Otherwise, think Brew Works, Earth Bread + Brewery, Nodding Head, Rock Bottom, and most of the other locals that you could guess.

Iron Hill, West Chester, Fri. 4/15 - Check out the Iron Hill fundraiser for disaster relief. All Iron Hill locations are sending 100% of proceeds from a one-day Rising Sun IPA promotion to the American Red Cross. Get dinner while you're there. Show your AHA card and get 20% off everything. Or your Mug Club membership for all of its benefits. Soon, city folks not inclined to venture out of the city will be able to experience the magic of Iron Hill in Chestnut Hill. Until then, if you're in the City, at least take the trolley out to Media and support a great cause. Drink a few beers; it's the least you can do.

TJ's, Sat. 4/16 - A total tap "takeover" by importing distributor B. United. Belgian Beer. German Beer. Italian Beer. Japanese Beer. UK Beer. It's all covered on this day and it might just be the wisest place for a true beer lover (that's you, right?!) to be on this Palm Sunday Eve. Seriously, check out the stellar list.

Exton Beverage, Fri. 4/22 - I don't know if this is a first, but there's a 3-hour event scheduled at Exton Beverage. This ain't your father's beer distributor anymore! There'll be live music on "the stage" (did you know Exton Beverage has a stage?!), food donated by local restaurants, and beer supplied by Exton Beverage. It will truly be a good Friday ;-)