Common Hope

Although we support initiatives year-round with our participation in New England Parkinson’s Ride in Maine or the Fox Trot in Massachusetts, with Parkinson’s Awareness Month coming up in April, we thought it was a good time to reintroduce a beer – and story – that is deeply personal to our team.

Last year, Bent Water Brewing partnered with Team Fox, the grassroots fundraising community of  The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF), to help raise awareness and funds to fight Parkinson’s Disease.

We decided to tap into the cause-focused, collaborative nature of the craft beer community and launched Common Hope, inviting breweries around the country to join them in making a beer and donating a portion of the proceeds to MJFF.

Bent Water created a recipe for the beer, a dry-hopped pilsner, inviting all participating breweries to customize their version and select the unique hops they would use for dry-hopping. This was done to keep the beer itself simple but enjoyable – and leverage ingredients each participating brewery likely already had on hand.

As breweries told us about their willingness to brew a beer, they also shared their stories – of how Parkinson’s had impacted their lives, why the cause was close to them, and why they would choose to brew the beer in the first place.

Since Bent Water Brewing’s inception in 2015, support for Parkinson’s research and those living with the disease has been a primary focus of our community involvement and cause projects.

Parkinson’s has had a profound impact on many of us at Bent Water, in particular our Co-founder and President, Aaron Reames, whose grandmother and wife’s uncle both passed from it. Over the years, we’verealized just how many of us at the brewery have had people close to us affected, from family to friends to former teachers, coaches, and mentors.

We will continue to fight Parkinson’s and share stories along the way. Common Hope will return in early April, with a portion of the proceeds from every can sold going to MJFF. Great beer for a great cause. Look for it next month!

To participate in the Common Hope or find a brewery near you check out  Common Hope here.