Nashville brewers united to show support for Stephanie's FIght
I am consistently impressed by the cooperative attitudes of Nashville's brewing community. From home brewers to the largest commercial operations, local beer lovers are quick to help out with ingredients, recipes, support and general goodwill whenever a member of the brewing fraternity/sorority has a need. And the owners of our local breweries are just generally what we would call "good people."
So it should come as little surprise that when Kent Taylor, the owner of Blackstone Brewing Co., decided to release a special beer to raise funds for his personal favorite charity, his fellow Nashville brewmasters jumped in to help out. The charity is "Stephanie's Fight," a fund to donate money to lung cancer research. It is named in honor of Stephanie Weins, the co-founder of Blackstone who passed away on Valentine's Day earlier this year. Weins was affectionately known as "Lady Blackstone" and was much beloved by the Nashville craft beer community.
Weins loved Belgian beers, but Blackstone hasn't been known for producing many of those particular styles of beer. So in her memory, their brewers have created Stephanie's Dubbel, a Trappist beer made with imported Belgian malts and candy sugar.
The brewery's website describes it as "a rich, malty brown beer with medium body and hints of chocolate and caramel, and fermented with Chimay yeast, which leaves trace aromas of raisins, plums and dried cherries."
They will be releasing the beer at a special event 4 to 8 p.m. this Sunday, Nov. 23, at the Nashville Farmers' Market. In addition to Blackstone, other local breweries including Jackalope, Yazoo, Black Abbey, Tennessee Brew Works, Little Harpeth and Fat Bottom will host the bottle release party and craft beer tasting. Bottles of Stephanie's Dubbel can be reserved at the fund's website and picked up at the event. Depending on the online demand for the limited release, there may also be bottles available for purchase on Sunday.
Each bottle sells for $20, and 100 percent of the proceeds go to fund research into the fight against lung cancer. I heartily encourage you to reserve a bottle and head on down to the market to visit with Nashville's magnanimous and talented brewers and swap some stories or memories of Stephanie.
