Beer Gives Back

What’s better than a craft beer tasting involving unlimited pours of 35 beers from 10 of New England’s finest breweries, fried catfish covered in spicy remoulade, live jazz, and hidden twenty dollar bills? Pretty much nothing.

Thursday night, I was honored to be a guest at Brewers Helping Neighbors (BHN), a fundraising event that’s been hosted by nonprofit organization United South End Settlements (USES) for the past four years. Bottle and draft offerings aside, I was impressed not only by the passion and enthusiasm of the volunteers that I spoke to, but also by the dedication of the brewers who’ve been partnering with USES since the event’s inception – among them Blue Hills Brewery, Sam Adams, Mayflower and Notch.

What struck me the most during the course of the evening was how many times I heard a volunteer say that BHN was fantastic for getting beer fans educated, excited, and involved in United’s mission to improve the quality of life for Boston’s most vulnerable residents; whereas the brewers emphasized how great it was to be able to introduce people who weren’t necessarily into small batch beer to their newest creations and to demonstrate their involvement in helping USES offer after school tutoring, art education, workforce resources, and senior services.

A glance at the raffle prize table confirmed that we had some serious do-gooders in Boston’s craft beer scene. Baxter Brewing Co. gave away 2 pint glasses, a mixed six-pack, and $100 to the ever-popular Parish Café. Clown Shoes offered six bombers, a T-shirt, two pint glasses, and a gift basket. Sam Adams donated a Barrel Room Collection signed by Jim Koch that very morning.

I was touched by how much brewers wanted to help their neighbors, so I decided to help right back by getting the word out on what’s going on in their worlds.

Todd Bellomy from Sam Adams told me they’ve recently unrolled their Spring Thaw variety pack, containing White Lantern Wit, Alpine Spring, Double Agent IPL, Irish Red, the ever-present Boston Lager, and the exclusive Maple Pecan Porter.

Rori Crossman of Baxter shared that they’ve just broken ground on a brewery expansion project that will increase floor space by 400%.

Merrill Maloney of Harpoon got me excited about their spring seasonal, Celtic Red, and let me try Director’s Cut, a delicious pale/stout blend that’s part of their limited-edition Barrel Series.

Abby Hendler of Jack’s Abby reports that a collaboration with DC Brau is in the works and that their barrel-aged Framinghammer Baltic Porter will be available in March/April.

After the dancing, schmoozing, and raffling ended (and after Nemo buried us all in multiple feet of snow and slush), USES Vice President of Advancement Tom O’Toole, Jr. shared some amazing news with me: that Brewers Helping Neighbors raised nearly $22,000. And that’s beer giving back!

Photos courtesy of Melissa Pocek