As enthusiasts celebrate Canadian Homebrew Day on Saturday, a local club will mark the occasion by raising money to support cancer treatment in honour of a member who died from the disease in March.
Since they can’t spend the day brewing together as they typically would, True Grist Homebrew Club members and other homebrew lovers will separately tackle a recipe created by Christina Burbadge, a Guelph resident for the past several years and a PhD physics student at the University of Guelph.
All proceeds will be donated to Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.
“It’s great for everyone to rally around something like this,” said Ryan Dunlop, a member of the club’s executive. “(Burbadge) would be very happy to have money going to charity.”
The group, in collaboration with ingredient donors and sales outlets, is selling kits for Burbadge’s English mild beer recipe known as Born to be Mild which won a competition held during the 2019 Northern Ontario Micro Brew Festival.
“We’re off to a really good start. This is definitely the biggest recipe launch we’ve ever had,” said Connor Creighton, manager of KJ Urban Winery and Craft Brewing Supplies, which is selling the kits. “People definitely seem to be responding to the message with this one.”
As of mid-Friday, the Victoria Road South store had sold 22 kits. Sales began eight days prior, Creighton said, noting they will continue through the month, with recipe ingredients available long after that.
“Whatever demand is, we can match it,” he said. “We’ll keep donating every few months to charity with the proceeds.”
Inside each kit is the recipe and instructions as well as ingredients, including yeast donated by Guelph-based Escarpment Labs, with hops and malts contributed by BSG Canada, also of Guelph.
In addition to KJ Urban Winery and Craft Brewing Supplies, the kits were available at Short Finger Brewing in Kitchener, though it sold out by Friday morning.
“In order to maximize our donation, we’ll be brewing Christina’s recipe … tomorrow. Once it’s ready to go and the patio’s open, we’ll serve it on tap with proceeds going straight to the campaign,” states a post on Short Fingers’ Instagram page.
True Grist Homebrew Club, which formed in 2016, includes members from Guelph, Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and beyond.
