MINNEAPOLIS — Call it "hope" in a can. A beer can mean many things, but for Keigan Knee, beer is first and foremost, his job.
As the director of product development (AKA, Flavor Overlord) at Modist Brewing company, Knee emphasized that beer means a lot more to people than just a beverage.
"I think it's an important part of our culture, alongside with food and art," Knee said. "That's how we view it, our beer is art."
With temperatures allowing for warmer, sunshine-filled days, patio season would be in full swing by now. Modist's patio and taproom would also normally be filled with people and their dogs. The beer is important to the brewery, of course, but so was the people, according to Knee.
"It's too quiet in the brewery," Knee said. "It's part of the life of the brewery, it's missing and it's depressing."
However, the empty taproom isn't stopping the flow. Knee said that in fact, just around the end of this week, they are releasing a new beer that aims to bring us all together. All this, quite literally. This is because Modist is one of 636 breweries around the world, participating in a campaign to brew an IPA called "All Together."
"Our friends and family at Other Half Brewing out in Brooklyn, New York-- they reached out to us with this idea and this concept that they wanted everyone to jump in on," Knee said. "We said yes right away."
The recipe is an open-source one, so that any brewery that wants to participate, can. The labels are mostly unified (with room for a little bit of personalized flair) to signify the scope of this global group project.
"It's something fun for us to do, it's a big, giant get-together, virtual collaboration kind of thing," Knee said. "For a good cause, everyone has fun brewing beer. We're all having fun chatting about it on Instagram."
The proceeds are partially going to help charities that are local to the participating breweries. Knee said Modist decided to contribute to The North Stands, a fund dedicated to helping hospitality professionals affected by the coronavirus.
"We're in a good spot, before all of this, but that's just us," Knee said. "There's a lot of other restaurants and other breweries that aren't in our position and that's part of this. A good cause to help them all out."
It was clear from the beginning, this battle was not one to be fought alone. So if you had been searching for a battle cry, why not rally behind a six pack or a crowler of local beer? When you crack it open, it just might be heard around the world.
"It's very essential to keep that life going in our community," Knee said, when asked why he thought beer was considered an 'essential business.' "Whether it's six-feet away or virtually, it's important to keep up those little bits of humanity that we can still access."
Here are the other breweries participating:
- Black Stack Brewing in St. Paul
- Wild Mind Ales in Minneapolis
- Revelation Ale Works in Hallock, MN
- OMNI Brewing in Minneapolis
Knee says you can expect to see All Together IPA at the brewery some time this weekend and in liquor stores some time next week. If you would like to stay updated on the latest dates, you can do so by following them on their Instagram or keeping track of #AllTogetherBeer.
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