NorthBank Brewers Look for the Helpers
Mr. Rogers famously said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”
So when the COVID-19 pandemic came to Southwest Washington earlier this spring, members of the Northbank Brewers Alliance took the message to heart.
Look For The Helpers IPA, a collaboration among 30 guild breweries from Seaview to Goldendale, will go on sale Saturday, May 9, 2020—with proceeds benefiting five regional food banks. Four-packs of the West Coast IPA will be available at 30 breweries throughout Southwest Washington.
How the Beer Came Together
The seeds for Look for the Helpers were planted right around the time most of us were binging “Tiger King” on Netflix.
Back in early April, Justin Leigh, co-founder and brewer at Dwinell Country Ales, teamed up with Jason Bos, head brewer and co-owner at Brothers Cascadia Brewing, to survey regional breweries on how the pandemic had impacted their bottom lines so far.
Seeing the results—some encouraging, some less so—inspired the duo to think about how the Northbank Brewers Alliance could help breweries through the economic downturn. “The guild has some cash, we have some resources—so why not put them to good use?” Bos recalls thinking.
The guild did what they do best: brew beer. Leigh says the nearly three dozen guild breweries decided to craft a crisp, classic Northwest IPA (5.5% ABV), brewed with Citra, Mosaic, and Amarillo hops.
It wasn’t long before the beer release became a fundraiser for local food banks, many of which began running low on resources soon after stay-at-home orders took hold in late March. “We shouldn’t just look at ourselves and do what’s best for us,” Bos says. “So we asked, ‘Who else is hurting right now?’”
In all, five Southwest Washington food banks will receive a portion of proceeds raised: Clark County Food Bank, Lower Columbia CAP (Community Action Program), Washington Gorge Action Program, Lewis County Food Bank Coalition, and Ocean Park Food Bank.
Backwoods Brewing Company Steps in to Brew, Package
Once the project took shape, guild members turned to Steve Waters, CEO at Backwoods Brewing Company, for brewing and packaging. With high hopes for regional distribution, organizers knew that Backwoods’ extensive brewing system and packaging line in Stevenson, Wash., was up to the challenge.
Waters didn’t require much convincing. “I thought it was awesome,” he says. “You spend a lot of time, especially when your business is impacted, thinking about yourself and your company—so it was nice to think about how to help other people.”
Innovative Can Design Echos Mr. Rogers’ Message
The innovation extends to the can itself—the brainchild of Ashley Jhaveri, designer for Clark County marketing agency Zzepplin. When she first heard about the collaboration, Jhaveri immediately thought of something lighthearted for the can design. “What if we put a game on it or something fun?” she recalls thinking. “Everyone’s stuck at home, and it would be cool to do something interactive.”
The final design features a word search game printed on the label, hiding the names of Southwest Washington breweries. (Yes, you are encouraged to literally “find the helpers.”) “It all kind of fell together,” Jhaveri says of the design.