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Folks, it’s been about 3 weeks since I last wrote anything about drinking, and that’s because I have been overwhelmed with the day job and making sure all is well on the ksdk.com front. I have finally found a moment to sit down and write something about the one topic that keeps are smile on my mug, beer.

Today, I leaned in, and checked my email, and was alerted to the fact that, even as the world collapses upon itself, the beer we make and drink will always be a force of good. That said, our friends at Schlafly are crafting a new beer, a hazy beer, to help support the local hospitality industry.

Side Work (4% ABV), a hazy IPA beer, is will be available in 4-packs of 16-ounce cans. Schlafly will donate proceeds from the Side Work sales to the Gateway Resilience Fund. Led by the St. Louis Community Foundation, the fund was recently established to provide short term monetary relief to employees and owners of independent bars, restaurants, and shops in the St. Louis area affected by closures and other circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Side Work will be available for purchase in early April at the Schlafly brewpubs Schlafly Tap Room (2100 Locust St, St. Louis, MO 63103) and Schlafly Bottleworks (7260 Southwest Ave, Maplewood, MO 63143) for $8.99 at curbside pick-up and carry-out.

The Beer

Side Work is a Hazy Session IPA featuring Strata and Enigma hops, with notes of strawberry jam meets passion fruit.

Schlafly’s Lead Brewer Jared Williamson selected the ingredients to reflect two grains (barley and oats) and two hops coming together in a union of one, and brewed the beer as a labor of love for his wedding guests.

It is a Schlafly tradition for long-standing employees to brew a special beer for their wedding.

Williamson and his fiancé recently made the inevitable, but tough decision to postpone plans for their April nuptials due to COVID-19. He didn’t want the beer to sit idly by as it was meant to be enjoyed and consumed fresh in early April.

WIlliamson explains, “I brewed this celebration beer in early March for my wedding guests to enjoy, and there is a story behind each aspect of the beer. As a brewer, I’ve continued to gravitate towards more sessionable beers with great hop flavor and aromatics. I also wanted to have this beer be super drinkable and approachable for our wedding guests. With the lower ABV, it could keep us all somewhat grounded as we celebrated into the evening. Once the wedding had to be postponed, we wanted to use the beer for something good. We wanted it to go back to our industry, as both my fiancé and I have spent numerous years either behind a bar serving patrons or in the brewery producing the beers. We wanted something positive for the greater community. While it was a bummer to postpone our little celebration, there are much greater issues that we are all currently facing, and we will need to help each other as much as we can.”

The name, Side Work, is a nod to all of the extra work that people in the restaurant and hospitality industry do behind the scenes. “There’s so much more that goes into your hospitality experience, outside of serving food and pouring drinks,” Fran Caradonna, CEO of Schlafly Beer said. “Every experience comes from a team of people that hold each other up to make sure that you are having the best time possible at their establishment.”

Side Work continues to be a labor of love for the entire Schlafly brewing team. The beer will be $8.99 for a 4-pack with proceeds going to the Gateway Resilience Fund. The beverage will be available by early April and will serve as a “thank you” for all of the hard work that goes into our extraordinary hospitality community. To order Side Work, guests can call Schlafly Tap Room at 314-241-2337 and Schlafly Bottleworks at 314-241-2337.

To donate to Gateway Resilience Fund, go to https://stlgives.org/covid19/gateway-resilience-fund/