Charity Ale Hits Shelves, Bar Taps Next Week

South shore residents will be enjoying a whole new type of surge protector next week and while it’ll do little to stem future rising bay waters it could prove to help ease stress in the event another super storm Sandy hits home.

A cooperative of Long Island breweries are ready to pour the first glass of an India pale ale aptly named Surge Protector. The sales will be donated to Long Island Cares and an Oceanside microbrewery wiped out by the October storm.

The ale, brewed at Blue Point Brewing Company in Patchogue, will be available at Patchogue’s Tap Room starting Tuesday and hits the shelves in retail beer distributors at $16.99 for a 22-ounce bottle and will be sold at bars across Long Island starting Wednesday, according to a Newsday report. Just 2,000 bottles were made, according to the brewery.

As Patch’s Joe Pinciaro reported last December the brewing effort included Blind Bat Brewery, Barrier Brewing, Great South Bay Brewery, Greenport Harbor Brewing Company, Long Ireland Beer Company, Port Jeff Brewing Company, Spider Bite Brewing Company, and Blue Point Brewery. Clare Rose Distributors signed on to pump out the product for the cause as well.

The effort to create a collaborative beer amongst numerous Long Island breweries actually started before Hurricane Sandy hit. Long Island-based beer writer Niko Krommydas and photographer Matt Furman wanted to gather a bunch of breweries together for a video project, with the end result being a new beer released by Long Island Craft Beer Week this spring.

But Sandy changed those plans.

"Three weeks later, Sandy happened," said Krommydas. "Barrier basically got destroyed, so this shifted from a creative project we would do in March or April to, 'OK, let's do this now because they are in serious need and temporarily closed.'"