As I wrote about last month, there’s a new Reunion beer but I don’t remember noticing it will be a rye beer. After trying Bear Republic’s wonderful new all-rye beer, I’ve taken a renewed interest in the alternative grain in beer. It will make it’s debut at the Celebrator’s 20th Anniversary Party this Sunday. If you haven’t gotten your tickets yet, there’s still time to order online. Join me for a/the Reunion.

From the press release:

Calling it a beer for hope and in honor of the passing of a long time friend, SBS Imports will once again offer its specially crafted Reunion Beer. Reunion Beer is the inspiration and collaboration of Alan Shapiro, president of SBS Imports, Pete Slosberg, creator of Pete’s Wicked Ale™, and Virginia MacLean, long time friend and colleague, as a way to raise awareness of and donations for the Institute of Myeloma and Bone Cancer Research. All met during the early days of Pete’s Brewing Company. Virginia passed away from the disease last June, four months after the initial release of Reunion.

“Reunion ‘08 celebrates the life and cause of our departed friend,” said Alan. “Virginia wanted to continue the mission of bringing hope to others with the Reunion project.” All proceeds are donated to IMBCR. “To date almost $100,000 has been raised by the Reunion team’s creative approach,” said Dr. James R. Berenson, CEO and President, Medical and Scientific Director at IBMCR. “We are eternally grateful to everyone supporting the beer and their efforts to bring this disease to the attention of the public,” added Geoffrey M. Gee, IMBCR’s Executive Director. The beer will be unveiled at the Celebrator Beer News’ 20th anniversary (Mardi Gras) party at the Oakland Convention Center on February 17.

Reunion Beer

Last year’s version was an Organic Imperial Brown Ale based on one of Pete’s popular brews. This year’s style, Organic Red Rye Ale, combines another popular Pete’s style ‐ Wicked Red with rye and caraway. Pete not only lent his name and likeness to this philanthropic and heartfelt effort, he worked closely with Bison Organic Brewery to craft the Reunion recipe. Visit Bison Brewing for more information.

Where to Buy

Reunion ‘08 will be available starting mid‐February at leading specialty beer retailers. For those living in states where there is no retail availability, it may be possible to purchase Reunion via mail order from selected retail partners, pending individual state laws. Reunion ‘08 will also be available in kegs. Retail availability and distribution, and a list of partner pubs and restaurants featuring Reunion ‘08 on draft, will be available at the Reunion website.

Pete Slosberg, who’s currently in Argentina, sent me an e-mail with some additional history of this beer:

Just so you know, [Reunion]’s origin was about 15 years ago when we developed Pete’s MultiGrain Beer. We started out doing a rye beer and then expanding it. Along the way, I asked Pat Couteaux, our brewmaster to try, for fun, a test batch of a “liquid rye bread beer” and it was great, but we didn’t go with it. It tasted like I was back in a NYC deli.

The back story on this beer for Reunion is that whenever Alan came to visit Virginia in the Bay Area, they would go to Max’s Opera Cafe for deli food. I mentioned to Alan that our old formula would be a fitting memory to their friendship so I contacted Pat and he got the old formula to Dan at Bison.

Thanks, Pete.