Port Coquitlam firefighters showed up in force at the Northpaw brewery Saturday afternoon to ring in a new charity beer brewed in their name.
’Ring the Alarm’ lager was borne out of a growing relationship between the brewery and Port Coquitlam Fire and Rescue, said Thomas Loss, president of the Port Coquitlam Professional Firefighters Charitable Society.
“They’ve always come in quite a bit,” said Northpaw Brewery owner Courtney Brown with a smile. “We struck up a relationship.
Northpaw Brew Co. started sponsoring the firefighter beer gardens at their annual softball fundraising event, and so it was a natural fit to partner up again when the society went looking for new ways to raise money in the community.
“We knew that a lager was the way,” said Brown. “It’s an easy drinking beer.”
At first, things didn’t go as planned.
Unbeknownst to the brewers, there was some leftover malt in the hopper leftover from a partnership-brewed beer with Yellow Dog Brewing for International Woman’s Day. When the brewers at Northpaw went to go test what they expected to be a clear lager, it poured out “smokey, burnt and charred,” as Brown put it, a fitting mistake for a firefighter’s brew.
In total, Northpaw brewed 2,000 litres of Ring the Alarm lager. With eight kegs set aside for firefighter fund-raising events, Brown says he expects the new lager to last through mid-June at the latest.
“We expect we’ll fly through it,” said Brown, who noted the beer is only available by the glass or growler.
Proceeds from the sale of the Ring the Alarm lager will go to fund the children’s breakfast and snack program at PoCo elementary schools, Muscular Dystrophy Canada and the Burn Fund.
