Fretboard’s annual Spring seasonal beer, called S23 is an important one. Not because session IPAs are all the rage anymore – with their lower calorie counts and what-not – but because this beer is built around a concept that is really important to all the people behind Fretboard. It’s a story that I’ve told before on the blog, but is worth repeating.

Where S23 Came From

S23 bears the badge number of co-founder Joe Sierra’s late brother, Eric Sierra, a former Cincinnati Police officer in District 3. In November of 2014 Sgt Sierra passed away from an unexpected brain aneurysm leaving his family behind. S23 was dreamed up at that moment as a way to help out and donate back to them for their expenses.

The problem with the idea (which ended up not being a problem, but instead being a beacon for the community of Cincinnati craft beer) was that Fretboard was still just a dream. Joe was home brewing with his friends Brad Plank and Jim Klosterman… talking about making it a reality. The group took one of their favorite home-brew recipes and pitched the idea of brewing a larger batch to Rhinegeist (you know those guys… right?). Rhinegeist jumped at the chance, not only brewing up the beer to help raise money – but making it clear to the team that the beer was theirs, and the name would stay with them as they kept working to make Fretboard a reality.

Every year since then the brewery brews up a batch of the beer and donates portions of the proceeds of every single sale back to Behind The Badge, a Covington-based non-profit who helps first responders and their families when they need it.

This Year’s Release

For this year’s S23 release Fretboard and Behind The Badge are teaming up to hold a benefit for Honorary Officer Caleb Haven. Caleb lost his fight with brain cancer on December 24th, 2019. During his short 18 years of life Caleb dedicated himself to helping others and working towards becoming a police officer. He trained with an Explorer program and was recognized as an Honorary Officer once it was realized that his time was running short.

The celebration of Caleb along with the release of this year’s S23 will take place on March 1st starting at noon and will feature live music featuring Fretboard’s own house band starting at 4pm.

A portion of the proceeds from beer sales will be donated to Caleb’s family to help lighten the burden of expenses. Fretboard and Behind the Badge encourage all members of the first-responder community that Caleb so deeply respected to come drink a pint of S23 and help make a real difference to a family in need.

This is what it’s about, folks.