Five years in, three breweries down and one new cause to benefit—Beer Church, a Seattle-based fundraising organization dedicated to the principle to “make the world a better place, one beer at a time” is at it again with their limited-release beers for the greater good.
Founded by Washington beer guru and senior beer reviewer of Sip Northwest, Kendall Jones, Beer Church is teaming up for its fifth anniversary with three Seattle-area breweries to brew three unique styles of beer. All three ales, with varying levels of IBUs, maltiness and alcohol by volume, toyed with an experimental hop from Washington state, all in the name of a cause that hits close to home for one of the breweries involved—the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.
“Doctors diagnosed me with Crohn’s almost five years ago,” says Joel Vandenbrink, owner and brewmaster at Two Beers Brewing. “Since then I have learned that the average person with Crohn’s goes 11 years without the proper diagnosis. People need to be educated about Crohn’s and the CCFA is one of the best sources for this to happen.”
In their pursuit to create limited-release beers to benefit charitable causes, Beer Church has also called upon the brewers at Airways Brewing in Kent, Wash. and Seattle’s Georgetown Brewing along with Two Beers to make their own rendition of the “Beer Church Ale.” Using the secret ingredient of an experimental, high alpha acid hop variety donated by Hop Union LLC of Yakima, the three Beer Church Ales are among a small handful of commercial beers produced with the trial hop variety. Great Western Malting Company of Vancouver, Wash. also donated malted barley for the beers’ base. Proceeds from the sale of Beer Church Ales, along with donations from bars pouring the beers, benefit the Northwest Chapter of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA).
The 0fficial release is being held via beer bash at the Beveridge Place Pub on Thurs., Nov. 21, and all three of the beers will be available at the 15th Annual Beer Church Turkey Bowl in West Seattle on Sat., Nov 23. The beers will also be on tap on a number of beer bars throughout the city.
“The Beer Church mission is simple: give beer drinkers an easy way to support worthy causes,” says Jones. “Thanks to generous donations from malt and hop suppliers, not to mention the breweries’ time and talent, these beers began benefiting the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation the moment they were brewed. To support the cause, all beer lovers need to do is order a pint.”
