Alcoholic beverages of all kinds, especially beer, have always been great unifying forces in this world, bringing people together for celebrations and gleeful “Cheers!”
Even during a pandemic, the drink has the same effect. More than 550 breweries from 41 American states and 39 countries are joining forces to brew “All Together.” The recipe for this simple IPA was crafted by Brooklyn’s Other Half Brewing in an attempt to unite breweries worldwide and give back to hospitality workers.
Locally, Central Florida breweries Sideward Brewing Co., RockPit Brewing, Ivanhoe Park Brewing Company, Something’s Brewing Florida, Crooked Can Brewing Company, Tactical Brewing Company, Genetic Brewing, Hourglass Brewing, Central 28 Beer Company, Suncreek Brewery and Deviant Wolfe Brewing are joining the cause. Each establishment is tasked with selecting an organization that will benefit from the proceeds of beer sales.
Matt Tanaka, founder and creative director of Stout Collective, an agency supporting the beer industry with marketing and design services, helped kickstart the idea with Other Half Brewing.
“The idea started when closures started happening. We were kind of looking around at all of our clients and our friends in the industry,” Tanaka said. “We saw how quickly that was hurting them from a financial standpoint and the hospitality workers in our industry.”
The team at Stout Collective got to work on designing open-source labels to be used by breweries far and wide. Labels can be printed at cost for participating breweries, and the recipe is publicly available.
He and Other Half may have envisioned a small handful of breweries getting involved, but he never pictured this collaboration would attract such widespread involvement.
“It’s been really cool to see. Even in this really tough time where breweries are in a very precarious financial situation, that spirit has been true and breweries have quickly been getting on board with this,” Tanaka said, “They’re doing this for their communities and for their staff and teams.”
In Orlando’s Milk District, Garrett Ward, co-founder and head brewer at Sideward Brewing Co., and his staff are stepping up to join the cause and planning to release their beer May 2.
“I think the industry really loves supporting their local community, but also just being there for the greater good,” he said. “Everyone likes drinking beer, everyone likes supporting our community.”
Funds raised from Sideward’s All Together sales will benefit the brewery’s staff and Florida Brewers United, a partnership helping to support industry workers who’ve become unemployed or had their wages or hours reduced.
Over at SoDo’s RockPit Brewing, business is down compared with normal times, but patrons ordering to-go crowlers continue to drain kegs, and co-owner Chris Rock is embracing ways to give back.
“I was browsing through Instagram and I saw someone else share this All Together beer,” Rock said. “I hate that it took something like this for us to get here, but I mean, anything that we can do right now is is beyond exciting for us.”
Any money raised beyond the cost of production at RockPit will support the United States Bartenders’ Guild, an organization supporting bar and brewery workers affected by the spread of COVID-19.
After all, brewers and community members alike have realized that we’re in this all together.
“The silver lining on this whole thing is everybody has recognized the power of supporting local now,” Rock said. “That’s been the coolest thing.”
Visit alltogether.beer to learn more about participating breweries in this national collaboration.
Find me on Twitter @PConnPie, Instagram @PConnPie or send me an email: pconnolly@orlandosentinel.com.