Short story on how we posted this news on AB InBev-owned Blue Point Brewing's charity brew

Even as a small, independently-owned website that provides daily coverage of the small, independently-owned craft beer industry, the terms small and independent are sometimes even lost on us. Case in point: I forgot that Blue Point Brewing was a Big Beer-owned entity and had this news set to run today. I thought it was a nice, harmless charity beer post (and it is). Can’t beat giving to charity, right? This led to the following exchange within our business chatbox:

Keith: Blue Point brewing? Come on, Krull!

Chris: No good?

Keith: Guess you’re working for big beer now.

Chris: Ha. Who owns them? I cant keep track.

Keith: AB InBev. Ha. I know. It’s working!

And he’s right! This is what they want! I mean, mostly Blue Point Brewing is so forgettable to me that I just glossed over the news completely, but it does make me think that slowly, overtime, maybe we will all just start to forget who owns what, or become so fatigued that we won’t pay attention as much, losing today’s current angst. I was going to just replace this post with something else but instead I thought I’d leave it because: 1. I found my brain fart to be more illuminating than my other usual brain farts and 2. hey, it’s still for charity, right?

So, we tip our caps. You win yet another round, AB InBev. Here’s your news. We will then follow it with some other indie brew charity posts you might enjoy.

The news

New York’s Blue Point Brewing Co. just launched its newest charity brew, Drink The Bay Clean India Pale Lager — a beer that will support Save The Great South Bay’s clean water efforts. And to make sure people know about it, Blue Point tabbed EGC Group’s Craft Beverage Division — a full-service integrated marketing and digital agency — to develop the branding and merchandise for the charity brew.

“It’s philanthropy by design,” said Jim McCune, executive director, Craft Beverage Division, EGC Group. “Blue Point Brewing Company has been a great client for 20 years. We all live, work and play on Long Island. We’re surrounded by water. This project was a natural fit.”

Proceeds from Drink The Bay Clean will go towards supporting Save The Great South Bay’s Creek Defender Program, which works to establish a human “defender” to be put in place in every South Shore community and on its 31 creeks.

EGC Group was able to establish strategic partnerships for Drink the Bay Clean, which included joining forces with Reid Carleton, founder and head designer of the popular Carleton Clothing to help design the brand art. Additionally, EGC client, Hopsteiner generously donated Calypso hops for the new charity lager. With offices in Long Island and Manhattan, the company provides services in advertising, online marketing, web development, data analytics, integrated communications planning and strategic consulting.