Not that you need a reason to drink a beer, but Elsewhere Brewing stepped into October and gave us a real one, and it's spectacular.
To help raise awareness for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Grant Park brewery decided to give one of its fan favorites a slightly different look. Sun's Kiss to the Moon was Elsewhere Brewing's "toe into the water" experimentation with non-traditional hazy IPAs in 2020. Brewery-goers wanted it back.
"For the last year we've had people asking 'When are you going to make it, when are you going to make it,' Sara Kazmer said. "So, instead of doing this random pink one-off we decided to put a cause behind it and brew it for a cause. We were like 'It's pink, it's October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month... perfect.'"
Instead of Sun's Kiss, though, Kazmer and her husband Sam decided a cause beer was in order. Enter Boobie Beer, a 6.5% Rosé Hazy IPA made with hibiscus and cryo pop hops. Think fruity, super clean, and tropical. Also think about the good being done as 20 percent of the proceeds from Boobie Beer will go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Sara and Sam Kazmer (Elsewhere Brewing's founders) had a lot of fun with their staff conceptualizing this project. But the time crunch around developing this beer forced the crew into some quick thinking. Could they come up with a tasetful, elegant, and artistic way to showcase their cause? They had the recipe dialed in. And they used an artist that had created can art on previous Elsewhere projects to create the label. But what about the name?
The working title was always Boobie Beer. But the staff struggled with the perfect name.
"We had to come up with a name," Sara Kazmer said. "We just kept calling it Boobie Beer in staff meetings saying 'We need to figure out a name for Boobie Beer.' And Josh (Elsewhere's Director of Brewing Operations) was like 'It's kind of fun to say, can we just keep that?' We all enjoy it. It has been funny seeing customers who are comfortbale ordering that by the name."
While male staffers love saying "Boobie Beer," male customers in the brewhouse have sometimes awkwardly struggled. "The Pink IPA," or "The Beer for Breast Cancer Awareness," are two of the ways some have asked for Boobie Beer.
Uncomfortable or not, Boobie Beer was a hit in the brewhouse. As of October 19, Elsewhere's latest cause beer has sold out at the brewery. But there are still ways to help the cause and enjoy this brew.
Elsewhere worked with craft beer distributor Modern Hops to place cans and kegs of Boobie Beer around Atlanta. You may still be able to find it at places like Red's Beer Garden (Atlanta), Porter Beer Bar (Atlanta), Stout Brothers locations in Smyrna and Roswell, Jax Fine Wine & Spirits (Buford), and Brick Store Pub (Decatur), to name a few (check availability beforehand as current quantities couldn't be verified by Modern Hops or Elsewhere).
And when supplies do run out, don't worry. Not only will Boobie Beer be back next year, but Elsewhere isn't done brewing beer for great causes. This beer for Breast Cancer Awareness Month was Elsewhere's third cause beer. They previously brewed Grant Park Menagerie for the Summer Shade Festival and Landscape Lager to help purchase carbon emissions for the environment. Kazmer said the brewery would eventually like to have a rotating cause beer on tap at all times.
But October will, from this point forward, always be about Boobie Beer.