Sunday, March 30, 2014

Beer in the Name of Philanthropy

I'll take just about any excuse to enjoy beer and it's even better when I can claim it's also philanthropic. One smart organization, Her Human Rights Campaign (HRC), took advantage of the great Portland beer culture to throw a fundraising event that was part beer festival, part homebrew competition.


To comply with regulations She Brew, a collaborative event between HRC and the Ladies of Lagers and Ales (LOLA), was a private, members-only event with pre-event memberships (and therefore entrance to the event) going for a mere $20. In addition to nine generous local breweries donating kegs, nine homebrewing ladies took the time to make a beer to donate to the festival. Surprisingly, out of the 18 total beers there were only two IPAs - Widmer's Upheaval IPA and one homebrew IPA. The homebrew was the first IPA this lady had brewed and while the lack of aroma hops was unfortunate, the other 13 hop varieties that were used combined to make one very tasty IPA.


Each person was given one ticket to vote for their favorite among the homebrews presented. While the coffee stout and the CDA were my personal top two, it was the coffee red brewed by Jodi Campbell that took first place. The coffee stout, brewed by Jamie Koty, took second place with the English Porter from Lee Hedgmon coming in third.

L to R: Jodie, Lee & Jamie (photo courtesy of Jodie Campbell)

This was a good first time event and I'm pleased that they are planning on doing it again next year. Huge thanks go out to the homebrewers and breweries that donated their beers!

For those interested here's the full list of what was poured:
Homebrews
Sulawesi Coffee Stout
Cascadian Dark Ale
Not the Tudors English Porter
Hot Mess Honey Brown
Rye Red
IPA
Coffee Red
Red Clover Irish Red
Belgian Wit

Commercial Brews
Lompoc/LOLA Collaboration LOLAmpac Clan Wee Heavy
Lucky Lab Hellraiser ESB
Full Sail Nut Brown
Widmer Upheaval IPA
Ecliptic Procyon Pale Ale
Reverend Nat's Revelation Newtown Pippin
Breakside Irish Stout
P.U.B. Funky Monkey Belgian Pale
Old Town Brewing Blasted Juice American Malt Liquor

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