Beer Review : Reunion ’08 Red Rye Ale – organic beer for a good cause

For the past few years, Pete Slosberg of Pete's Brewing Company (as in Pete's Wicked this-and-that) has been teaming up with Alan Shapiro, president of SBS Imports, and Daniel Del Grande from Bison Brewing to craft a limited special release beer that benefits a good cause. The Reunion collaboration was inspired by the late Virginia McLean, a former coworker of Slosberg and Shapiro. The trio worked together when Pete's Brewing Company was in its early stages, at the forefront of the American craft brewing movement that took place in the mid 1980's. With 100% of Reunion proceeds benefiting the Institute for Myeloma and Bone Cancer Research, almost $100,000 has been raised as of early 2008.

The Reunion fundraising effort began in 2007 with a 7.5% ABV imperial brown ale brewed with 6 organic malts, hopped and dry hopped with 3 different varieties.

Reunion '08 Red Rye Ale is also made from all organic ingredients — barley, flaked rye, hops, caraway seeds, water, and yeast. It is essentially a chemical fertilizer, pesticide, and additive- free version of Pete's Wicked Red with a rye and caraway seed injection.

This article appears in Jun 3-9, 2009.