Nebraska craft brewers band together to brew a beer that benefits flood disaster relief

Jeff Hanson, head brewer for Green Flash Brewhouse and Eatery, hosted a collaboration brew day on April 1 with nine other breweries.

We couldn’t wait for our Five Beers to Know this week before telling you about the Nebraska Strong Red Ale. Twenty-six breweries across the state of Nebraska will be brewing this special beer with a mission to raise funds for those impacted by the recent flooding in the state. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of this unique beer will go to disaster relief efforts across the state. Each participating brewery is choosing their own nonprofit organization to whom they will donate.

The idea for this initiative came from Brian Hoesing, head brewer at 5168 Brewing Co. Hoesing also came up with the base recipe for the beer, but each brewery (or collaborating breweries) is/are free to tweak it and use their own local ingredients as they wish.

“I think at some level, the floods have affected us all in some way and in Nebraska, we come together when our neighbors are in need,” Hoesing says. “Nothing shows this mindset better than craft beer and specifically Nebraska craft beer. While it won’t happen overnight, every little bit can help Nebraska rebuild. We wanted to emulate something much like Sierra Nevada’s Resilience IPA after the forest fires, but focus on a local collective of brewers brewing a great beer for a vital cause.”

The suggested statewide brew date was Monday, April 1, with some brewing on a different date next week. There are also quite a few breweries who will be doing collaboration beers and brewing together with a collective of breweries that will distribute the batch among taprooms and pubs. Many local and national ingredient producers and suppliers are also donating ingredients for this statewide initiative, making the potential for fundraising even greater.

“As a Nebraska native, it’s extremely difficult to see how the recent flooding has impacted our state.” said Jeff Hanson, head brewer for Green Flash Brewhouse and Eatery, who hosted a collaboration brew day on April 1 with nine other breweries. “So many are hurting. Green Flash is passionate about this Nebraska Strong initiative as it’s our small way of helping our Nebraska neighbors near and far. Local craft beer has a unique way of mobilizing communities around important issues, which is exactly what we’re hoping to do.”

The suggested release date for the beer is April 28.