Beer is beloved by many for many reasons.
It can help you chill out after a long day at the office, and when enjoyed with friends or family, improve your overall well-being while quenching your thirst on a sultry late-summer day.
In moderation, the sudsy beverage made from malted grains, hops and yeast can make your bones stronger and perhaps even reduce the risk of dementia and cognitive decline, according to a 2020 study by the National Institute of Health.
And if it comes in a brightly colored can adorned with hand-drawn flowers from Braddock-based Brew Gentlemen? It just might make you kinder, if you believe in the spirit of the words on the label.
A portion of profits from sales of Free Store Brew — a 5.2%-alcohol-by-volume summer ale crafted with wild berry and citrus — will benefit the nonprofit For Good PGH and its Free Store 15104, a volunteer-driven organization established in 2012 by Sen. John Fetterman’s wife, Gisele, that accepts and redistributes surplus and donated goods to neighbors in need.
Part of Brew Gentlemen’s mission as a company is to contribute to the revitalization of Braddock, said general manager and partner Alaina Webber. Often, that means working with local organizations that help support the community with outreach and various programs and events like the borough’s annual Community Day in August.
“This is our bread and butter in Braddock,” she said. “Working together with a lot of ideas and seeing them come to reality is what keeps us going.”
The brewery has made several collaborative brews since college friends Asa Foster and Matt Katase started it 10 years ago, including for the annual Barrel & Flow Fest, which was founded by Braddock native Day Bracey in 2018.
So when Webber and For Good PGH Director Kristen Michaels were brainstorming ideas during a pop-up event earlier this spring at 1211 Braddock Ave. to accompany a performance in its barebones theater, it was probably inevitable the two women’s conversation eventually turned toward beer.
Many of the adult volunteers who keep the Free Store up and running like drinking it, so they figured: Why not create a new brew to shine a light on their efforts while also engaging them in the process — and then drink it there? They were already on the hook for a single batch collaboration for Barrel & Flow on Aug. 12, so the idea could help put all the pieces together while supporting a worthy cause.
“And it just kind of snowballed,” Webber said.
On June 27, the plan was put into motion when the brewery invited two dozen Free Store volunteers to its warehouse on Braddock Ave. for a tasting of four beers. They were asked to evaluate them according to aroma, texture and flavor.
“Then we took their ideas” and ran with it to develop the new beer’s profile, said Webber.
What they came up with was a refreshing, relatively light summer ale brewed with wild berry and blood orange. Then, armed with crayons, colored pencils and sheets of paper, they did a follow-up workshop at the Free Store to sketch out a label.
“We asked, ‘If you could design the can, what would it look and feel like?’” said Webber.
The multicolored striped design that 12-year-old Genyah Prunty and Melvina Glover came up not only mirrors the Free Store’s bright and playful exterior, but also its values through a phrase from Gisele Fetterman printed in capital letters under the brand name: “This beer makes you kinder.”
“Be kind,” the label reads. “Make a new friend. Take only what you need. Pay it forward.”
When the beer was canned and labeled two weeks later in preparation for Barrel & Flow, the volunteers were among the first to sample it and no surprise here — they loved it, Webber said, with Glover remarking, “Wooh! It’s real. We have a real beer!”
The brewers were just as happy with the 12-ounce end product, both inside and out.
“To take someone else’s idea and work with them and apply what we do every day and make it delicious is really cool,” said Webber. “This is generally one of the most special things we’ve done as a company, and we’re extremely proud.”
While Barrel & Flow attendees consumed much of the beer, it is still on tap for the next month or so in the brewery’s taproom at 512 Braddock Ave., Braddock, and is available for purchase online for $13.97 for a 4-pack (plus shipping in Pennsylvania only) at their website, brewgentlemen.com. It’s also for sale in a limited number of beer stores until supplies run out.
“It’s just a beer,” said Webber. “But at the end of the day, it’s so much more than that.”
Gretchen McKay: gmckay@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1419 or on Twitter @gtmckay.
First Published: August 28, 2023, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: August 29, 2023, 3:05 a.m.
