MobCraft Beer has teamed with Bottleshare – a nonprofit offering emergency financial aid to employees of breweries, wineries and distilleries facing hardships that prevent them from working – on a new collaboration beer to benefit the Brewers Association and Bottleshare’s own Believe in Beer Relief Fund.
The Milwaukee brewery and Georgia nonprofit are working together to brew and distribute Believe in Beer Fruited Sour Ale.
This is the first time Bottleshare has partnered with a brewer to make a beer with proceeds benefiting the fund.
The project, says MobCraft President and Co-Founder Henry Schwartz, grew out of a previous collaboration the groups were partnering on that ended up getting canceled by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Instead, Bottleshare stepped in to help create a digital tip jar for MobCraft employees.
When the two took part in an Instagram Live, Bottleshare Founder and Executive Director Christopher Glenn announced the creation of the Believe in Beer Relief Fund, which led Schwartz to suggest the collaboration brew using Georgia peaches. Door County cherries were also added to the mix.
"When the Mobcraft/Bottleshare seed was planted, we didn't just water it, we threw as much Miracle-Gro at it as possible," said Glenn.
The first, ahem, fruit of the Believe in Beer Blending Barrel Series is MobCraft’s Fruited Sour Ale Oak Barrel Aged Blending Barrels Edition No. 1, blended by MobCraft Director of Barrel Operations, Adam Thomas.
The 6.5 percent ABV golden ale was created by blending four beers aged in oak barrels for varying periods – a sour amber, a brettanomyces-fermented golden ale, a sour golden base from 2018, and a mixed culture Belgian tripel – and then re-fermenting it on the peaches and cherries.
The 1,000 pounds of peaches needed were donated by Lane Southern Orchards in Fort Valley, Georgia, and Lautenback’s Orchard near Fish Creek donated half of the 800 pounds of cherries required.
Schwartz expects the new ale to be released in early July in the MobCraft taproom and nationally by Brew Pipeline. Licensed accounts can contact sales@mobcraftbeer.com or fill out the form here.
"The first time I got to chat with Chris about this project I was so full of emotion, the hair was standing up on the back of my neck," Schwartz recalled.
"It brings me joy to imagine this beer being enjoyed by people around the United States, while raising money for such a great cause!"
"It's a collection of great people coming together to brew a great beer, all for a great cause," added Glenn. "As our first collaboration to see nationwide distribution, we are immeasurably grateful and beyond excited to generate much needed funds for this incredible community to which we all belong."
If you want to learn more about the new collab ale, Schwartz, Glenn and representatives from the Brewers Association will take part in a Facebook and Instagram live event Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. (That’s today!)
To support the Believe in Beer Relief Fund go here.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
