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- by Kendall Jones, Washington Beer Blog -

In addition to running the Washington Beer Blog, I also operate Beer Church, a philanthropic organization dedicated to providing beer drinkers with easy and fun ways to engage in charitable giving. For the fifth year in a row, Beer Church teamed up with local breweries to produce Beer Church Ale, a limited-release beer to benefit a worthy cause. This year three different breweries participated: Airways Brewing, Georgetown Brewing, and Two Beers Brewing (all blog sponsors).

This year, we got our hands on some experimental hops, gave three different breweries some very vague guidelines and turned them loose. All three of versions of Beer Church Ale (info below) will be released at a special event on Thursday, November 21st at the Beveridge Place Pub (blog sponsor). Thereafter, Beer Church Ale will be available at better beer bars around the Seattle area and at each of the breweries’ retail locations.

This is the fifth year that Beer Church has worked with local breweries to create limited-release beers to benefit charitable causes. Beer Church is a Seattle-based philanthropic organization dedicated to creating ways for beer drinkers to engage in charitable giving. Proceeds from the sale of Beer Church Ale benefit the Northwest Chapter of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA).

“The Beer Church mission is simple: give beer drinkers an easy way to support worthy causes,” says Kendall Jones, founder of Beer Church. “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.”

The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America is a non-profit, volunteer-driven organization dedicated to finding the cure for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The organization also works to increase awareness of the diseases and improve the quality of life of children and adults affected by the diseases.

“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.”

About the Ingredients

Great Western Malting Company of Vancouver, Washington donated the 3,000 pounds of malted barley used as the base malt in all three beers. Hop Union LLC of Yakima, Washington donated 88 pounds of a very special hop variety currently designated as HBC 366. According to Hop Union, this experimental, high alpha acid hop variety features an exceptional aroma profile, which includes notes of citrus, tropical and pine. Next year HBC 366 will receive a name and become a regular offering. To date, the three Beer Church Ales are among just a small handful of commercial beers produced using this experimental hop.

About the Beers

Each brewer designed a unique recipe to emphasize the character of the hops. Alex Dittmar, owner and Brewmaster at Airways Brewing, describes his Beer Church Ale as similar to an Extra Pale Ale (XPA), focusing almost entirely on the base malt and copious quantities of the hops. The beer is a deep gold color, weighs in at 6.5 percent Alcohol by Volume (ABV) and 68 IBU (International Bitterness Units), and focuses less on bitterness and more on hop aroma and flavor.

At Georgetown Brewing, Reid Spencer created a beer that is deep yellow/gold, relying largely on late hop additions—a technique some refer to as hop bursting—to showcase the hop’s characteristics. Georgetown Brewing’s version of Beer Church Ale offers hop lovers a whopping 85 IBUs. In addition to HBC 366, Reid also used some other hop varieties to see how the experimental hop blends in with other, more familiar hops.

Like the Airway’s recipe, Two Beers Brewing opted to single-hop the beer, using only the HBC 366. Like Georgetown, Brewmaster Joel Vandenbrink relied on the hop bursting method to maximize the hop character. According to Vandenbrink, “My beer is ridiculously tasty. It is mahogany in color, with burnt, toasty citrus notes and a dank aroma, 68 IBUs and 6.6 percent ABV.”

Each bar that pours Beer Church Ale has agreed to make a donation to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation Northwest Chapter.

About the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America

The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America’s mission is to cure Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and to improve the quality of life of children and adults affected by these diseases. The Foundation ranks third among leading health non-profits in the percentage of expense devoted to research toward a cure, with more than 80 cents of every dollar the Foundation spends going to mission-critical programs. http://www.ccfa.org/chapters/northwest/

About Beer Church

Beer Church is a Seattle-based organization dedicated to one simple principle: make the world a better place one beer at a time. To that end, Beer Church organizes fundraisers and creates other opportunities for beer lovers to contribute to the community. http://www.beerchurch.com

More Information

Airways Brewing, http://www.airwaysbrewing.com

Georgetown Brewing, http://www.georgetownbeer.com

Two Beers Brewing, http://www.twobeersbrewery.com

Great Western Malt Company, http://greatwesternmalting.com/

Hop Union LLC, http://www.hopunion.com/

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