Groups hold All Together beer shares

While the national All Together collaboration beer project raised awareness across the country for the plight of hospitality workers during the pandemic, the beer also provided opportunities for local craft beer group events. A great example of this is an event sponsored by the Pittsburgh Craft Beer Society and the Kanawha Regional Association of Zymerlogical Enthusiasts (K.R.A.Z.E.).

Group leaders collected and pulled together 55 different All Together beers from around the country. Group members then conducted a beer tasting simultaneously at two locations — one in Pittsburgh and one in Charleston, WV — to raise money to help out-of-work waitstaff in their two cities.

Lead event organizer Chris Godwin, a former Charleston resident now living in the Pittsburgh metro, said the idea for the event kind of happened by chance back in the spring when he discovered an All Together release at Voodoo Brewery’s Homestead taproom. “A buddy and I went and picked it up not knowing it was a collaboration, and then we found the All Together website,” Chris said. The guys liked what they read on the website.

Pittsburgh folks get serious about sharing

Right following the Voodoo release, it seemed like every few days they were hearing of another All Together beer dropping at area breweries. They loved the concept and, with lots of time on their hands from being off-work due to the pandemic, he and his buddies decided to begin collecting them. They obtained all the ones from the Pittsburgh market, and from trip to Harrisburg to trade with another beer fan, picked up a bunch more from central and eastern PA. All of a sudden, they had about 30 beers.

That’s when the idea came to them to hold a beer share and raise a little money for laid off servers. Chris then got K.R.A.Z.E’s president Lynette Stewart in Charleston involved, and the event grew to two sites. The Pittsburgh guys, including Godwin, Paul Wilcox, and Chris Galarza continued collecting All Together beers until their total count reached 55.

They set the date of June 13 for the tastings, and event locations were secured. Due to government restrictions on meeting sizes at the time, the outdoor events were limited to around ten people at each venue to follow public health guidelines.

The Pittsburgh Craft Beer Society group held their tasting on Helicon Brewing’s patio in Oakdale, PA. Over $250 dollars was raised, and the funds will be donated to a local charity set up to support hospitality workers. Interestingly, of all the beers tasted, the beer that turned out to be the most popular happened to be the one that started the whole idea for the event: Voodoo Brewing’s All Together IPA.

Charleston folks pitch in to help out

Activities at the Charleston event were organized by Lynette Stewart. In addition to beer and veggie trays, folks were treated to a rasher of smoked meats expertly prepared by barbecue master David Mincer. Mincer leads the annual Charley West BBQ Fest charitable fundraiser.

More than $150 in donations were collected and all the proceeds will go to a local fund set up to help out waitstaff from bars and restaurants.

Only one of the beers at the Charleston location was a beer normally sold in the region. That one was Big Timber Brewing’s All Together IPA, which showed very well versus the beers from many of the more-storied craft breweries present.

The All Together beer project was a worldwide collaboration organized by Other Half Brewing Co. of Brooklyn, NY. Over 800 breweries in 50 U.S. states and 52 other countries made an All Together beer. Each donated a large share of the sales proceeds to support laid-off bar and restaurant workers in their areas. It was a most impressive effort.