IPA for India: Join us, in Brewing Some Good.
COVID has been, among a host of other things, a shared experience and a leveller. It’s a pandemic and no country has been spared. Some countries have fared better than others and some have been able to protect themselves better than others. The UK experience has been dreadful. As we started to see light at the end of the tunnel however, tragic footage began to beam onto our TV screens from India – ‘the world’s pharmacy’, responsible for much of the vaccine production – showing the population there plunged into the full dark of the COVID nightmare. They need help now with essential oxygen and medical supplies. 16 UK breweries (so far) have come together under the banner ‘IPA For India‘, to help Birmingham-based SEWA UK provide support in India. SEWA UK is a volunteer-run charity, raising funds to support volunteers on the ground in their efforts to provide essential medical supplies, PPE and Oxygen concentrators – often in the hardest hit remote rural areas.
The Plan
While we watched the distressing scenes from India unfold on our tellies, the magnificent Libby Elswood at Goff’s Brewery decided to get organising. Hats off to her. Libby has brought together breweries and suppliers around an idea to put some money into the hands of SEWA volunteers assisting on the front line. The plan is for us to brew a 5.2% heritage IPA – an IPA For India – assisted by suppliers like Crisp Maltings, ColorScan (imagery/pumpclips/labels), Charles Faram (hop merchants), Eebria (distribution) and Lallemand (yeast). In our case, we’ll be putting the whole batch of beer that we make into casks, and then we’ll give £50 from the sale of each cask to SEWA UK – that should be around £2200. It works out at 70-73p/pint.
We’ve teamed up with Hull beer maestros Atom to collaborate on our version of the IPA For India. The Atom team joined us for the July 17th brewday – and, to be fair, put most of the work in. Suppliers have helped us with discounts on some of the key materials, but Brass Castle and Atom will also be making a financial contribution. We will be selling the beer at a loss. This is mainly because we’ve shoved some relatively expensive hops into it. Believe it or not, the original IPAs brewed in Malton often used ‘Californian’ hops and so we have done the same. We know – because we have the archive brew sheets. Those hops don’t come cheap – but you do win on flavour and aroma!
Get Involved
We’ve nearly done our bit. Now you can help too! First up – please go and enjoy the IPA For India beer. You might even be lucky enough to find and compare different versions from the various contributor breweries. If you can’t see it in your favourite pub, then do please mention it to the publican. Some of the breweries will be putting their versions of the beer into can and bottles, which is another way in which you can contribute and enjoy the beer. Finally, if you’ve got some spare cash, you can also contribute directly to our efforts at the charity giving page here – and see how close we’re getting to our target figure.
Charity is always important. There are two responses to your own trying experience during a shared event – either to look inwards and concentrate efforts on your own woes to the exclusion of all else. Or to look outwards, recognise the more trying plight of others and then assist where you can. Kudos to Libby Elswood for doing exactly that.
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” (Winston Churchill)
Oh, and remember: “In charity there is no excess.” (Francis Bacon)
