Murfreesboro brewery Hop Springs has followed up its initial Social Distance Tennessee Ale, which was brewed to help provide relief to local hospitality workers displaced by the COVID-19 crisis, with a second offering called Hospitality Strong. Nashville chef Maneet Chauhan is one of the co-owners of Hop Springs, and the hospitality industry is near and dear to her heart — a portion of the beer’s sales will be donated to industry workers.
The chef has seen the crisis from the front lines. With limited curbside pickup at her restaurants, Chauhan says: “It’s been challenging, but one of the most important things we are doing is we are trying to remain as upbeat as possible. We are keeping our organization stronger; I was getting texts yesterday from employees seeing if we needed any help. It is a family, and everyone realizes we are all in the same boat.”
Describing #hospitalitystrong, Chauhan continues: “We in this industry always take time to care for others, this is a time when we need service the most. Whatever each of us can do, we need to step up. We can do our part by taking care of the Nashville and Murfreesboro people with care packages. Doing our small bit to spread some humanity around.”
With an aim at keeping the financial impact of this particular brewing as local as possible, Hop Springs brewmaster Derrick Morse reached out to Batey Farms’ Brandon Whitt to source some of their Murfreesboro-grown malt. Morse utilized 5,000 pounds of Volunteer Mission Malt two-row foundation winter malt as the backbone of the Altbier, and then reached out to another local company, Resource Label Group, to see if they’d be able to get labels printed in time. Says Morse: “We called this beer a Tennessee Amber Ale. It truly is of Tennesseans, for Tennesseans, by Tennesseans. The benefit is, we’re going to be able to put care packages back into Tennessean's hands.”
Hospitality Strong is brewed in the style of a traditional Altbier, an amber ale with toasty tones that Morse says makes it the perfect pairing for barbecue fare like roasted chicken, pork tenderloin and pork chops. The cost is remarkably affordable for a craft beer at $22 for a case of 16-ounce cans, with $2 going to #hospitalitystrong care packages. To be able to maintain these prices, the beer will be sold in case quantities only.
Since March 18, Hop Springs has shut down its taproom and all music events to comply with federal distancing recommendations. With drive-thu service only, the Hop Springs team has continued operation by providing beer by the case and wood-fired pizza made to order. To help people make as few trips as possible, Hop Springs decided to sell all its inventory at wholesale pricing to drive-thru customers, with some cases selling for as little as $10.
With the loosening of restrictions outside of Davidson County, Hop Springs reopened the disc golf course, the dog park and the walking trail to the public starting last week. They continue to ask customers to remain in their vehicles when making curbside purchases. Staff members are sanitizing mobile credit card machines between customers, taking orders at a safe distance from customer car windows and delivering beer and pizza to the trunk of each vehicle to help maintain social distancing.Â
