3 Daughters Brewing's Lou's Pale Ale. Credit: 3 Daughters Brewing

3 Daughters Brewing’s Lou’s Pale Ale. Credit: 3 Daughters Brewing
A small-batch beer has hit the tasting room of St. Petersburg's 3 Daughters Brewing for a limited time, and for a good cause.

The new addition, Lou's Pale Ale, calls for a specialty blend of four experimental hop varieties — combined with Simcoe, Loral and Ekuanot hops — that the brewery received from Ales for ALS (ALS stands for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's Disease).

You see, Ales for ALS supports the ALS Therapy Development Institute, a leader in ALS research, by providing brewhouses around the nation with free access to its proprietary hop mix. In exchange for the hops, brewers dream up a tasty recipe, brew a beer and donate a portion of its sales to the nonprofit biotech.

Lou's Pale Ale is described as "smooth" and "easy-drinking" with a peppery, earthy aroma. 3 Daughters plans to give $1 from every pint sold to ALS TDI, but the brewery — which also recently launched its own line of low-carb hard seltzers — isn't the only local operation participating.

Though details on availability haven't been released, Tampa's Coppertail Brewing Co. developed an Ales for ALS IPA, and the young Dissent Craft Brewing Company in St. Pete committed to brewing a Florida IPA in support of the nonprofit as well.

Keep an eye out for those forthcoming IPAs, and go nab Lou's Pale Ale while you still can.

This article appears in May 17-24, 2018.