I just returned from five days in San Diego at the Craft Brewers Conference. Over the next few days I hope to post a bit of what I learned there. But first I want to celebrate Earth Day with a beer that’s better than most for people and the planet.
Reunion ’08 is the result of a multi-tiered cooperative effort. Pete and Alan of Pete’s Wicked joined forces with Dan Del Grande of Bison Brewing, who in turn has a partnership with Butte Creek Brewing in Chico, CA.
Labeled as an Organic Red Rye Ale and billing itself as “A Beer for Hope,” Reunion may sound like a plug for Obama but the hope referred to here is related to the fact that all the profits from this beer are donated to the Institute for Myeloma and Bone Cancer Research in honor of Pete and Alan’s friend Virginia MacLean who succumbed to myeloma last year.
What better way to honor Earth Day than with a beer that celebrates a cancer victim’s life by using barley, rye and caraway seeds that are free of cancer-causing pesticides? Given its northern California origin, this is unusual in that it is not a California hop-bomb but instead its malt emphasis evokes caramel and fruitcake, an American evolution of the traditional English brown ale.
And on a tangential note, here’s another beer-inspired Earth Day sentiment from Don Russell in his Joe Sixpack column in the Philly Daily News – what ever happened to refillable beer bottles?
Posted by beeractivist 
