MobCraft Beer has been very busy during the coronavirus pandemic shutdown, and has cleverly crafted a busy events schedule keeping them, and the local craft beer economy moving. Today, they announced that they’re giving back to a larger brewing community that needs all the support it can get.
MobCraft is collaborating with fundraising nonprofit Bottleshare to create a blended sour ale that benefits the Believe in Beer Relief Fund. The fund, created by the Brewers Association in late April, is in place to support craft breweries and state brewers guilds affected by the pandemic. The beer is the first to benefit the fund.
The partnership came about spontaneously during an Instagram Live conversation between MobCraft founder Henry Schwartz and Christopher Glenn, founder of Kennesaw, Georgia-based Bottleshare. During the talk, which revolved around the state of breweries during the pandemic, Glenn announced the launch of the Believe in Beer Fund and Schwartz responded by immediately offering to provide a beer to help out.
“When the MobCraft/Bottleshare seed was planted, we didn’t just water it, we threw as much Miracle-Gro at it as possible,” Glenn said in a press release.
About the Beer
The beer, called Believe in Beer Fruited Sour Oak Barrel-Aged Blending Barrels Edition No. 1, was crafted by MobCraft’s Adam Thomas. The brew is blended from four different barrel-aged beers — a sour amber, a Brett-fermented golden ale, a sour golden base from 2018, and a mixed-culture Belgian tripel. It will be refermented with 1,000 pounds of Georgia peaches and 800 pounds of Door County cherries (appropriately). The peaches were donated by Lane Southern Orchards (Fort Valley, Georgia) and many of the cherries were donated by Lautenbach’s Orchard, outside of Fish Creek. The beer will be available in July and it will be distributed nationwide through Brew Pipeline.
MobCraft is donating 100% of proceeds from its own sales, and breweries who pick up the beer through Brew Pipeline will be encouraged to donate via Bottleshare.
“A loss of craft beer culture would be a loss of so many friendships, connections and good times shared,” explained Schwartz. “This project is personal to us. We are a small brewery that would benefit from the Believe in Beer Relief Fund. Not only would many of our friends in the industry benefit from support, but we know there are breweries across the country we don’t personally know who are in the same boat. We have an asset right now — tasty barrel-aged beer — that we can turn into cash that can be donated to help as many as we can.”
Glenn, Schwartz, Thomas and other representatives from MobCraft, Bottleshare and the Brewers Association are discussing the partnership on MobCraft’s Facebook Live and Instagram Live channels at 4 p.m. on Friday, May 22.
