The public’s inclination to tithe is unpredictable, but demand for beer is pretty much constant. That truth explains the genesis of a new homeless shelter funded in part by beer sales. It’s the result of an interesting coalition: Love Power Church, St. Stephen’s Catholic Church, and Finnegan’s Irish Ale.
Love Power Church had a space, St. Stephen’s had start-up money, and Jaquie Berglund had experience marketing beer for Kieran’s Irish Pub. “I’m just trying to sell beer and I’m just trying to raise money for the poor. I’m trying to make a difference in a very creative way,” said Berglund over pints at The Local recently. “You can’t keep going back to the same pockets for the same money.” To that end, Berglund founded the Spud Society, a charitable foundation devoted to raising funds by marketing potato-related products.
Pairing consumerism with charity is not new. Paul Newman’s self-proclaimed “Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good” has been going on for 20 years. His salad dressings and spaghetti sauces have generated $125 million for various causes. It’s been tried with beer before, too. Professional contrarian Dean Crist spent three years campaigning against Native American fishing rights in Wisconsin via sales of “Treaty Beer.” Defunct by 1990, the brew did find its clientele, but Crist never managed to keep contract brewers committed to a product that got the public pissed in the wrong way.
Berglund has run into no such trouble with Finnegan’s Irish Amber, the first product commissioned by the Spud Society to generate income for the Love Power Shelter. You can find it at MGM and many other liquor stores, and the kegs are in rotation at 30 local watering holes, including The Local. Presently, Finnegan’s is brewed under contract with Schell and James Page, but the Spud Society plans to consolidate production with a new contract at Summit. “The product is really taking off,” said Berglund, thanks in part to a pro-bono ad campaign crafted by a pair of anonymous mavericks from a trendy downtown ad shop. Finnegan’s, they say, is “mentioned in four out of five Irish confessionals,” a claim not yet verified by St. Patrick’s.
If you’re going to argue the merits of charitable brewing, it’s best to do it over a pint. Samples conducted liberally over the last few weeks have found Finnegan’s worthy of its goal, though Berglund declined to reveal exactly what role potatoes play in the recipe. The draft version presents a creamy, malty body akin to the honorable Irish stouts, but much lighter. The bottled version is less complex, and more crisp with a slight hoppy bitterness. In the Gastronomer’s home, it has so far been matched nicely with chorizo quesadillas and Big Mike’s Italian subs, making Finnegan’s the least painful tithe of fiscal 2002.
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