For the fourth year, we’re participating in the Ales for A.L.S. program which raises money for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

The program started in 2013 by Loftus Ranches and Hop Union, and Bell’s has been involved since the beginning.

The farm donates a special hop blend to breweries to make a special beer. A dollar from each beer sold will go to the ALS Therapy Development Institute.

Our brew uses the same hop blend and is an American Rye IPA brewed with three types of rye. The rye adds an earthy, sometimes spicy malt character to the beer. It’s on tap now at the Eccentric Café.

The hop blend is a mixture of staple and experimental hop blends, chosen each year by leaders in craft beer. This year's selection team included Russian River's Vinnie Cilurzo; Firestone Walker's Matt Brynildson and Sam Tierney; Sierra Nevada's Danny Kahn; Bale Breaker's Kevin Quinn; Perrault Farms' Jason Perrault; and our own Director of Operations John Mallett.

“A bunch of really smart, hop-focused brewers, sitting around, rubbing hops, smelling them and talking about what the possibilities are to pull together a fantastic blend of all these varieties,” Mallett said.

The blend includes Simcoe® from Select Botanicals and Equinox from Hop Breeding Company. There are also seven are experimental hops from Hop Breeding Company: 492, 494, 344, 438, 522, 682, 291. Take a look at the hop blend here.
 
During the selection process, the selection panel found different experimental hops with fruity, citrus, bright, tropic aromas, and found ways to balance them together to make a new blend.

“It’s a really great chance to pull together some of these similar, but distinct and different hop flavors, and put them together in a fantastic blend for a really stellar cause," Mallett said.