Indiana Breweries Step Up to Provide Economic Assistance to the Food and Alcohol Industry Workers

Social Distance Pale Ale, brewed at Centerpoint Brewing in Indianapolis, has been released! It is 40 IBU and 5.5% ABV, and 100% of its proceeds will go to benefit service workers in the community. Information regarding the non-profit organization that was formed to support these workers, and those involved in the production of the beer, is included in the press release below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Indy Independent Relief Fund will use dedicated beer sales to provide for laid off employees

Indianapolis, March 20, 2020: Members of the Indianapolis craft beer industry have come together to form the Indy Independent Relief Fund (IIRF), a registered non-profit organization designed to generate and disperse funds and food to needy members of the food and alcohol service industry. Present conditions have led to the layoff of thousands of restaurant/bar and brewery employees that depend on both hourly wages/salary and tips.

Local companies have combined forces to produce a beer, from which 100% of the sales will be used by the IIRF to provide services and funds to industry workers. Three hundred cases of Social Distance, a pale, will be sold by the IIRF’s industry partners to Central Indiana bars and breweries that have licenses for “to go” sales, and those businesses will then sell six packs of the beer by carryout or delivery in order to raise money for their business and their own employees.

The first run of Social Distance has been funded by donations by several breweries and beer related companies. Centerpoint Brewing in Indianapolis is providing the equipment on which to do the brewing and the labor, tank space, and energy for production. Sugar Creek Malt Co. of Lebanon is providing the grains for the beer, the hop farm Indy High Bines of Indianapolis donated the hops, and Sun King Brewing of Indianapolis gave the yeast for fermentation. Daredevil Brewing of Speedway is contributing cans and Monon Beverage Brokers the labels, while Indiana On Tap is donating graphic design and marketing services.

Interested parties wishing to purchase cases of Social Distance should contact IIRF via Sean Webster at sean@mononbeverage.com or 317-340-0227, or Centerpoint Brewing at sales@centerpointbrewing.com. The first run of Social Distance will be complete and ready for distribution two weeks from the brew date of March 20, 2020 and the design is to have all cases presold by that time. Cases will have a suggested resale of $10/6-pack ($40/case). This will provide individual businesses with profit (and tips) for their employees, while the IIRF will generate $9000 from this initial run.

The funds collected by IIRF from this100% donation beer will be used to purchase food stuffs for the immediate needs of industry worker that have been laid off. Foods to be distributed from the contributing breweries in their taprooms (Daredevil, Sun King, and Centerpoint). Laid off workers should monitor social media for the dates and times of the distribution.

The recipe for the Social Distance beer will be made available to all Indiana breweries so they may produce the beer themselves for draft sales, the proceeds of which will provide some funds and tips for their employees, as well as an appreciated donation to the IIRF. Future production of Social Distance and a series of charity beers will not be based on 100% donation of ingredients and labor, but the plan is for these to provide an ongoing source of funds that IIRF will distribute to needy individuals within the industry for a variety of reasons beyond the present coronavirus pandemic and restaurant/bar shutdown.

 About Indy Independent Relief Fund. The Indy Independent Relief Fund was registered as a nonprofit organization on March 19, 2020. Dedicated to “Serve those who serve us” entity to provide assistance for food and alcohol industry workers in both the short-and long-term. Sean Webster of Monon Beverage Brokers is the president of the Fund, and a board of directors is being set up at the present time. The goal of the fund is to continually generate funds through the production and sale of charity beers, which will then be donated to industry workers in need due to health, financial, or personal reasons. (End of Press Release.)

Other Indiana breweries have begun brewing beers for the Industry Relief Series. The next one will be named Essential, a 4.6% ABV Pilsner, from Grand Junction in Westfield. It is scheduled to be canned on 4/30.

Some Indiana breweries are participating in the brewing of All Together Beer, which is a worldwide collaboration to benefit the hospitality industry. They will use a base IPA recipe modified as they see fit. The Indiana breweries known to be participating in this benefit, and the release date for their beer, is listed below:

450 North Brewing, Columbus – Release TBD

The Devil’s Trumpet, Merrillville – Release 4/24

Moontown Brewing, Whitestown – Release 6/2

2 Toms Brewing, Fort Wayne – Release TBD

The press release for All Together is shown below:

Other Half Brewing Announces All Together Beer Worldwide Collaboration to Benefit Hospitality Industry

• Mar. 29, 2020 at 2:00 PM

BROOKLYN, N.Y.- – The team at Other Half Brewing Co is proud to announce All Together, a worldwide beer collaboration created to raise funds & awareness for the industry we love so much. Regardless of location or circumstances, when one member of the hospitality industry struggles, the rest of the group (including brewers, servers, bartenders, bussers, dishwashers, GMs, buyers, chefs & owners) steps in to help and lend a hand.

With this spirit in mind, Other Half Brewing (OHB) is spearheading the All Together project, started by a collective of beer industry partners from around the globe, to raise awareness and provide relief to those struggling in the industry as we’re all in this together.

“Raising awareness about the devastating losses in the hospitality industry is the core vision of this project,” says Matt Monahan, co-founder, Other Half Brewing. “We want to keep these losses at the forefront of conversations so that anyone who wants to help can learn what is happening and find a way to contribute to the recovery.”

How does the project work? #AllTogetherBeer invites any brewer, from any corner of the planet, to participate by providing the tools needed to make the beer at the lowest possible cost, including an open-source recipe, artwork, and name. In exchange, the collective asks that a portion of the proceeds go to supporting hospitality professionals in each brewery’s own community. The rest should be donated to keeping the brewery in business to weather this storm.

• Recipe: OHB created a base recipe that easily brewed with commonly sourced ingredients. Each participating brewery can modify the beer as they see fit and brew it at their own convenience.
• Artwork + Label: Stout Collective created the label artwork that can be customized by brewery, and Blue Label Printing has offered to print at cost.
• Website: Craftpeak Team donated their time, talent & technology for the site

Breweries can get involved by reaching out to alltogether.beer/ for more information.

Beer drinkers can support this cause by signing up for the mailing list. The beers are being brewed around the world, and the newsletter will inform beer lovers worldwide when they’re available to purchase from their local brewery.

At OHB, the proceeds of All Together will go to the Restaurant Workers Community Foundation; https://www.restaurantworkerscf.org/ and the beer is expected to be available starting April 2020. Social assets can be found here.

The #AllTogetherBeer project begins with the following breweries with more to be announced: Other Half Brewing, NYC; Side Project, St. Louis, MO; Monkish, Torrance, CA; Trillium, Boston, MA; Alvarado St, Monterey, CA; Arizona Wilderness, Phoenix, AZ; Outer Range, Frisco, CO; The Veil, Richmond, VA; Omnipollo, Stockholm, Sweden; Humble Sea, Santa Cruz, CA; Finback, NY; Crak, Padua, Italy; 3 Sheeps Brewing, Sheboygan, WI; Sigma Brewing, Houston, TX; Southern Grist, Nashville, TN; Burial, Asheville, NC; Mikerphone, Chicago, IL; Pilot Project, Chicago, IL; Modist, Minneapolis, MN; Homes, Detroit, MI; KCBC, Brooklyn, NY; Industrial Arts, Garnerville, NY; Fifth Hammer, Queens, NY; Hidden Springs, Tampa, FL; Green Cheek, Anaheim, CA; Bottle Logic, Anaheim, CA; Parish, Broussard, LA; Vitamin Sea, Weymouth, MA; Ska, Durango, CO; Equilibrium, Middletown, NY; Northern Monk, Leeds, UK; Garage Project, Wellington, NZ; Wylam, Newcastle, UK; Lervig, Stavanger, Norway; Juguetes Perdidos, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Carton Atlantic, Highlands, NJ; American Solera, Tulsa, OK; Civil Society, Jupiter, FL; Anchorage, Anchorage, AK; Hoof Hearted, Columbus, OH; Barrier, Oceanside, NY; Sand City, Northport, NY; Bellwoods, Toronto, ON; Whiplash, Dublin, Ireland; Boundary, Belfast, N. Ireland; Dancing Gnome, Pittsburgh, PA; Collective Arts, Hamilton, ON; and more. alltogether.beer/.

About Other Half Brewing

Founded in 2014 by Sam Richardson, Matt Monahan and Andrew Burman, Other Half Brewing is rooted in a simple mission: to push the boundaries of beer. Known for its hazy IPAs, pastry stouts, and creative sours, Other Half has built a loyal community of fans around its Brooklyn taproom, and grown to become one of the most sought after breweries in the country. Through their innovative festivals (Pastrytown & Green City), creative flavors and with locations in East Bloomfield, NY and Brooklyn, NY, Other Half seeks to be constantly moving the beer industry forward. otherhalfbrewing.com/