It’s that time of year again! Time for the 8th annual release of Beer Church IPA, a philanthropic brew created for the holiday season. Beer Church IPA will be released this Saturday, November 18 at the annual Beer Church Turkey Bowl in West Seattle. All proceeds from Beer Church IPA benefit the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.
For the 2017 version, we teamed up with Airways Brewing, Georgetown Brewing and Two Beers Brewing, as well as YCH Hops of Yakima and Great Western Malting of Vancouver. Last year, Beer Church IPA raised over $12,000 for the cause. Let’s do it again this year! It’s easy for you to help us to reach our goal. Just drink the beer.
The public is welcome to attend the launch event on Saturday evening, though we have no more room for bowlers. Along with beer, there will be a raffle/auction for all sorts of cool stuff.
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Thereafter, the beer will be available at all three of the participating breweries’ taprooms and other locations around the Seattle area (listed below). Beer Church IPA is a draft-only beer.
Beer Church is the philanthropic arm of the Washington Beer Blog and actually predates the blog. Under the auspices of Beer Church, we’ve been hosting events and raising funds for charitable causes since 1997. See our previous posts about Beer Church.
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After lots of discussions, text messages and email messages, a formula was determined and we gathered at Two Beers Brewing on October 25th to brew the beer. The goal was to create a light-bodied IPA, a wee bit hazy, with good hop character that showcases the hops and provides a decent amount of bitterness on the finish. This year we used Loral hops and a yet-to-be-named experimental hop breed designated as HBC 342.
We like working with cool, new, experimental hops (which is why YCH Hops’ involvement is so important) and then propping them up with a nice, reliable malt backbone (which is why Great Western’s involvement is so important). Most years, we’ve used at least one experimental hop breed in Beer Church IPA. For example, in 2013 we use HBC 366, the hop that would eventually become known as Ekuanot. This year we used HBC 342, which offers lots of citrusy, pineapple-like aroma and flavor. Along with that, we used Loral hops, one of darlings of the beer industry these days.
Each drop of Beer Church IPA you drink helps raises funds for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America. We couldn’t do it without generous donations from hops and grain suppliers and the breweries involved. We cannot thank Great Western Malting and YCH Hops enough. Without their help, this project probably wouldn’t be worth pursuing.
Get Beer Church IPA at these locations. List will be updated as more locations are added.
- Two Beers Brewing, The Woods Taproom in Seattle
- Airways Brewing Taproom in Kent (not the Bistro, but taproom)
- Georgetown Brewing in Seattle (growlers to go)
- Brewmaster’s Taproom in Renton
- Beveridge Place Pub in Seattle
- Latona Pub in Seattle
More locations coming soon!
