To help raise funds and awareness for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, the brewers at Free Will Brewing Co. partnered with some of Philly’s top female beer personalities for an inspiring pink beer collaboration in support of Penn Medicine’s Rena Rowan Breast Center. The brewers at Free Will opened their brewery doors for these four women to make a brew that fit their specifications—serious, delicious, accessible, refined—and the charitable brew, Saison de Rose, will hit the Philadelphia craft beer market late September 2013 with an official Saison de Rose Release Party & Free Will Weekend at Devil’s Den the weekend of Friday, October 4, through Sunday, October 6.
When Free Will Assistant Brewer David Wood and Philadelphia craft beer bar owner Erin Wallace (Devil’s Den, Barren Hill Tavern, Old Eagle Tavern) worked together during a Philly Beer Week event, little did they know that it would be the precursor to a charitable collaboration between Free Will and four of the best female beer personalities in Philadelphia. Wood brought the idea of brewing a special charitable pink beer for breast cancer awareness month to the rest of the brewers at Free Will, while Wallace gathered a group of female beer experts like herself.
“To truly participate in the brewing process from start to finish has been an amazing experience. Free Will knows about brewing, but the four of us women know a whole lot about beer too,” says Erin Wallace. “We got to taste each batch and tweak various flavors—more spice here, more carbonation, less ginger, more hibiscus to adjust the color—it was really exciting, and to do all this in honor of the Rena Rowan Breast Center made it even better.”
These female beer experts include Erin Wallace, Philly Beer Week board member and owner/beverage director of Devil’s Den, Old Eagle Tavern and Barren Hill Tavern & Brewery; Marnie Old, sommelier, author and Cheap Buzz columnist in Philadelphia’s Daily News; Tara Nurin, Ale Street News columnist, Pink Boots Society historian and Cicerone Certified Beer Server; and Carolyn Smagalski, an international freelance beer journalist, Certified International Beer Judge and Cicerone Certified Beer Server.
The goal was to brew a beer for October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month: seasonally appropriate, accessible for women, tasty for non-beer drinkers and satisfying for craft beer lovers. They decided on a saison—a farmhouse pale ale, highly carbonated, fruity and typically spicy—and Saison de Rose (season of pink) was created. They wanted a pink beer brewed with quality, unique ingredients that tastes great and at the same time meets the criteria, expectations, tastes and standards of a group of well-versed beer experts. Saison de Rose is a true collaboration, after many batches and flavor adjustments from the women’s expert palates.
Pink grapefruit, pink peppercorns, ginger and hibiscus contribute to the pink hue of the beer while contributing mild spice to the flavor profile. The beer is delicately sweet with the serious flavor of a farmhouse ale and just the right balance of ginger.
Saison de Rose will be available at Devil’s Den in South Philly, Old Eagle Tavern in Manayunk and Barren Hill Tavern in Lafayette Hill, as well as numerous other craft beer destinations throughout the city. Saison de Rose will also be featured at the Midtown Fall Festival, Sunday, October 6, thanks to Brü Craft & Wurst and McGillin’s Olde Ale House. More details will follow with specific locations that will sell Saison de Rose. Every keg and every bottle bought by bottle shops and bars will benefit Rena Rowan Breast Center. $1 from every pint sold will benefit the charity with an estimated donation of $10,000 from the entire Saison de Rose project, plus additional donations from the participating bars.
The group chose the Rena Rowan Breast Center at Penn Medicine as the charity for the Saison de Rose project because the money goes directly toward helping patients and improving the center and services it provides. Currently there are more than 2.9 million breast cancer survivors in the United States, making the disease an issue that touches many hearts. The Rena Rowan Breast Center was on board with a beer, especially a pink beer for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and was proud to be associated with these women and Free Will.
- Photography: Lionize Productions
