Why Love City Brewing named a beer after Pathways to Housing PA

When Love City Brewing Company opened its doors in a former rail-parts plant in Callowhill this past April, it joined a handful of other new breweries bringing life to the ex-industrial neighborhood.

At least a few of those companies have some charitable slant. Yards donates a portion of sales from its PYNK beer to the breast cancer-focused Tyanna Foundation, for instance, and the maybe-opening-soon Triple Bottom Brewing’s entire business model is predicated on social good.

Love City, too, has community in mind. Each quarter, the company plans to dedicate one beer to a local nonprofit and donate a portion of its proceeds to it. Its first feature: 40 kegs of Pathways Pilsner, in honor of Olney-based homelessness nonprofit Pathways to Housing PA.

The collaboration is the first of an ongoing campaign tied to a social media contest.

(Photo via facebook.com/lovecitybrewing)

“My background is in nonprofit mental health, so I knew I wanted to make giving back a big part of our business,” wrote Melissa Walter, who founded the company with her husband, in an email.

“While we were in construction, Kevin [Walters] and I had the idea to ask our social media followers which nonprofit organizations they love. We ran a mini contest — we asked people to post a video to their social media feed explaining why they love the organization, and we chose the top three most liked as our nonprofit partners for 2018.”

Pathways was the first winner, thanks to a video by HR admin Christine Oleskey Fitzgerald (who Walters said she also happened to know from a previous job) that was the top like-getter on Facebook. The Pilsner was brewed in April — “and it’s been flying out of the taproom since then!”

Love City and Pathways are celebrating the partnership by kicking the keg tonight. After that, the company will partner with a different nonprofit every quarter. The next two getting brews in 2018 are What Is: Mindfulness, which teaches mindfulness to kids in Philly schools, and homeless street outreach org For the Least of Our Brothers.

(Another neat beer collab: Love City also released the Hop Along IPA this spring in honor of excellent local band Hop Along’s latest album.)

Walters didn’t share what percentage of the beer’s sales would go to Pathways, and said on Wednesday that Love City was waiting until the end of the quarter to cut a check.

P.S. Triple Bottom Brewing hosted a similar brew-a-beer-for-a-nonprofit competition in December 2016 as part of a crowdfunding campaign. Cofounder Tess Hart said this week the winner has been picked, but the beer is TBD: “We have randomly selected a winner, however he has not yet selected his nonprofit of choice. We’ll definitely be brewing for this organization once we open our doors, though!”