(Okay, maybe more than a pint.)

Residents in Timmins didn’t take long to scoop up 92.1 ROCK’s “ROCKed by a Blonde” ale. And a local charity is benefiting from those thirsty patrons.

Full Beard Brewing and our radio station handed over a cheque of $1,000 to the Rotary Club of Timmins Tuesday afternoon, collected from a percentage of sales from the blonde ale with a unique yellow label on the can.

Rotary’s Youth Director Sebastien Vermette notes they and Tap It Draught Services—also owned by Full Beard Brewing owner/operator Jonathan St. Pierre—have worked together a lot in the past, and was glad they could come together again.

“It’s a great thing to do in Timmins,” he said, “Us Northerners, we all love our beer so I think this was a great fit.”

“Rotary sponsors a lot of different clubs and a lot of different charities in the community,” added Treasurer Saralyn Hayward, “100 per cent of this thousand dollars will go right back into Timmins.”

St. Pierre says this project was something that came to them in talks with 92.1 ROCK before the brewery even opened.

He says it was well thought out by all three parties involved.

“I couldn’t ask for better partners,” the bearded brewer noted, “It was a win-win situation.”

He says he feels it’s much easier for people to donate this way.

“Instead of (residents) going out to every charity and putting their money in the little box, they bought a beer that would signify them donating their portion,” he said, “I get it all the time when we go to the grocery stores or other places, they’re like ‘You want to donate?,’ whereas (residents are) getting something for it (by buying a beer in this case).”

“We’re donating, it’s a good cause and I think it’s probably easier that way to get that money for your cause.”

As for the reception, St. Pierre says a lot of people liked the end product. Bias aside, Vermette’s surely one of those fans.

“Fantastic,” Vermette said of the brew, “I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad beer from Full Beard.”

St. Pierre says it took about a month to clear all 1,100 litres of beer via cans, growlers and in-house pints.

“It took off pretty good, and I think towards the end, people were kind of—you know, we have other beers that are coming out, so people kind of get that flow of changing sometime—but there was still regular (sales of the radio beer) and when we said we were running low on inventory, that’s when we had a mad rush again.”

He says he thinks many people thought this would be a limited time thing.

Well, St. Pierre says this may not be the last time you see the blonde ale on the shelf and it’ll come “eventually.”

“Depending on when,” he said, “We’ll see how it goes but something that we really want to push out there being local and trying to push out to get more.”

Filed under: Local News