I thought this was a cool story. Chris Ray, relief pitcher for the Mariners, is also a homebrewer. He plans to open a craft brewery in Ashland, VA, named "Center of the Universe" (which is the town slogan, of sorts.) I was talking with a bartender at a local pub yesterday, and he pointed me to this story.
Chris Ray Brews One Up for Operation Homefront
COTU brewing company, the future brewery of Mariners pitcher Chris Ray, has partnered with Fremont Brewery, a Seattle local brewery for a special occasion: a beer that will be sold for charity at Safeco Field.
The beer? Homefront IPA.
The proceeds will go to Operation Homefront, a non-profit organization that helps families of soldiers overseas.
But this beer can't be sold without a baseball twist! Louisville slugger has graciously donated maple bats on which the beer will be aged. After the fermentation process is over, the bats will be pulled out, dried and signed by the Mariners players to be auctioned off.
Chris has been a homebrewer for a few years now, trading recipes and talking shop with his brother Phil in Florida. Homebrewing started out as a project, says Chris.
"I'm a project kind of person. I work with my hands to build something, and don't stop until it's done. Brewing beer allows me to repeat the process countless times by changing just one simple ingredient or all of them. It's a way to be creative where no one will judge you because if they do, no beer for them!"
Chris is like a mad scientist in his basement, brewing up flavors like Sweet Potato Ale, Rootbeer IPA and Banana Hefferveisan. He shares his passion (and beers) with his brother Phil, who brews a variety of different IPAs, IBAs and Porters.
Center of the Universe Brewing, his Virginia brewery, is a little ways from coming to fruition so Chris decided to partner with a local brewery in Seattle. Chris chose Fremont Brewing Company after a short question and answer session with one of the scorekeepers at Safeco Field (he happens to be the commissioner of the Brewers Association in Washington).
"We set up a meeting and between trying their delicious beers and philosophy on brewing, I felt it matched up with COTU (short for Center of the Universe Brewing)", Chris explained.
So now that he had the brewery to brew his beer, and a place to sell it (Safeco Field), he needed a charity to donate the proceeds to. After much talk, Chris and Matt Lincecum (owner of Fremont Brewing Company) decided on a military charity, which brought them to a short list of charities.
"For the final cut, I asked a good friend of mine who is stationed in Afghanistan which one he thought was best. Operation Homefront won. I called the local branch and they were on board immediately. I consider our soldiers our family. They protect us, we should support them. If I can brew a giant batch of beer and as a result money is given to the charity, I can't think of anything cooler than that".
The release of Homefront IPA will be on July 29th at Safeco Field.
http://cotubrewing.com/COTU_Blog.html
More on Operation Homefront:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Homefront