Tahoe breweries collaborate to make special fundraiser IPA

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - Four breweries in the Lake Tahoe area have collaborated to make a special beer to benefit local workers in the food and beverage industry.

“It was a collaboration from start to finish,” said Nicole Smith, co-owner of South Lake Brewing Company. “We are not enemies, we are not competitors, really. We all have our own kind of niche.”

They teamed up with Cold Water Brewery and Grill, Sidellis Lake Tahoe and South of North Brewing Company, to make “Tahoe Together” IPA, a 6.8% ABV (alcohol by volume) brew.

“I think it’s just a perfect blend of all of us together,” said Debbie Brown, owner of Cold Water Brewery and Grill. “It’s crisp, it’s clean. It’s not super-heavy on the IPA side.”

“You get a lot of tropical notes at the beginning,” added Smith. “So passion fruit, melon rind, some mango. You get all of that from the hops, which is really neat.”

The goal is to raise about $20,000, which will then be given to the Tahoe Chamber to be distributed to bar and restaurant workers who lost wages during the Caldor Fire evacuations.

“We all missed Labor Day here in Tahoe, and we missed the end of August going into September. And it is, it’s when people make their nest eggs,” explained Brown. “And it’s what helps them get through, really, until the day after Christmas.”

“Some of them are living paycheck-to-paycheck; very highly dependent on tips,” said Smith. “A lot of staff members kind of save up their tips earned from Labor Day weekend.”

Only 20 kegs were made, and the beer is going fast. There’s also a way for customers to add donations to their bill at all four breweries.

“We’ve all been negatively impacted by the Caldor Fire, and this is just another challenge for us. But we’ll get through it,” added Smith. “I mean, the community just really comes together.”

“It makes you proud to be a part of a community that takes so much pride in wanting to give and to help,” said Brown. “So that’s really what makes us so special.”

If you would like to donate to the relief fund, just click on the link below.

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