Robin Shepard
"One in Four" beer in cans and in a pint glass.
Four Madison-area breweries are participating in a national collaboration to call attention to domestic violence. The beer makers are releasing an IPA called One In Four. Domestic and intimate partner violence affects one in four women in the U.S. The timing is deliberate: October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Delta Beer Lab debuted its version of the beer earlier this week. Hop Haus Brewing Company, Karben4 Brewing, and Working Draft Beer plan to offer their own releases throughout October. The core recipe, the purple label and art and other promotional material were developed by Milwaukee’s Third Space Brewing. Participating breweries in Madison are following the recipe recommendations closely, with only minor alterations due to the availability of ingredients.
Each of the participating breweries is donating some portion of their sales to an anti-domestic abuse organization of their choosing. Delta Beer Lab signed up early and was eager to join in the big brew, says Delta Beer Lab co-owner Michelle Riehn. “Partnering with DAIS (Domestic Abuse Intervention Services) made sense as they are a local provider of support services for those affected by domestic violence,” she says. Delta Beer will donate $1 for every pint of the beer sold and patrons will be asked if they want to add on a tip that will go to the brewery’s philanthropic partner of the month — for October, it is DAIS.
The base recipe for the beer calls for Simcoe hops, which lend piney bitterness much like what’s found in a West Coast IPA. A combination of Idaho 7 and an experimental hop called HBC 630 are recommended for a touch of citrus and dark grape that is intended to subtly connect to the purple label art. Purple is also the color associated with Domestic Abuse Awareness. The beer finishes around a modest 6 percent ABV.
“The One In Four name calls attention to a staggering statistic about the prevalence of domestic violence,” says Matt Cisz, lead brewer at Third Space Brewing, who was a leader in the recipe development. Cisz recently lost a family member to domestic violence, which makes the project personal.
More than 50 breweries in 20 states have signed up to make a One In Four beer following Cisz’s recipe guidelines. It’s part of a trend where brewers, nationally or even globally, brew from the same beer recipe to highlight a cause, much as Brew for Ukraine did this spring.
Malt and hop providers have joined in and are offering discounts on ingredients needed to make the beer.
Participating breweries will be offering it by the pint in their taprooms and most will be selling it in four-packs of 16-ounce cans ($13-$16).
[Editor's note: This article was corrected to note DAIS stands for Domestic Abuse Intervention Services.]
