I would have been excited about this no matter what. I have really been digging the stuff that HighGrain has been putting out, and their neighborhood taproom in Silverton nails what I want out of a brewpub. So when they announced an upcoming can – I was already all in. 16oz cans of one of their fantastic brews in my fridge? Sign me up.
Imagine how thrilled my little gnome-y self got, then when I found out they were kicking things up to a new level by doing it all for a really good cause, too?
The Bigger Picture – The Big Effort
Look… we all love beer, but there are things that really fuel why I spend so much of my “free” time behind a keyboard working on this blog, the podcast and all the crap that comes along with it. It’s not just because I like to drink… I could just drink and be happy if that was the case.
There are moments in all of the drama, and the craziness, and the excitement of new businesses opening and growing where you get a glimpse of something much larger, that powers it all. This industry is full of really great people who will drop everything to help each other out. We saw a really beautiful picture of this when Sierra Nevada got the entire country to rally around the Campfire collaboration effort, and HighGrain was inspired by what an effort like that can do when they started planning this.
If you aren’t aware, there is currently some really horrific fires ripping through Australia right now that have destroyed more than 10.5 hectares of land, and are only projected to worsen in the coming weeks. To give you a better picture of how big that is – we’re talking bout an area that’s roughly the size of Ohio. These fires have already killed more than 1 billion animals and 18 people according to some estimates.
The brewery is creating a new release that not only marks their first can release, but it also calls other breweries to action in making their own version of the beer to help give back in a way that just one brewery alone wouldn’t be able to. HighGrain wants to use the power of craft beer to raise awareness and donate some money to help the relief effort… and I can’t even tell you how behind this I am.
About The Collaboration Effort
Lil’ Joey is the newest release from HighGrain, and they put it into four packs of 16oz cans that you can start pre-ordering right now on their website. 25% of all the proceeds of this beer, from cans and draft sales all go to support the relief efforts.
But that’s not all.
HighGrain published the recipe to Lil’ Joey on their website with the instructions for as many breweries to go ahead and make their own version and donate the money as they see fit to help out the fire relief efforts in Australia. You can find the recipe and the brief tracking form for participating breweries here.
The point of all of this is really, really simple. But important. We’re all in this together. Life isn’t always fun or exciting, like it feels like it is when we’re belly up to our favorite bars. There’s some really shitty stuff happening in the world around us, and the only thing that will get us through it all is each other. Your friends, your family, your neighbors? It’s all you’ve got… let’s show each other what we can do.
To Help Support
Not only can you help by buying some beer… there are plenty of organizations that you can support too:
