Shining Star Pale Ale for The Sanneh Foundation

A while back we released a kit called Emma's Ale. This was our first kit to focus on a charitable cause - 100% of profits went towards pediatric cancer research. By the start of this year, we had raised over $13,500 through the sales of this kit, and it was clear that homebrewers cared and were touched by Emma's story. We had homebrew clubs brewing the kit together, lots of affirmation from cancer-survivor homebrewers, and best of all Emma made it through a very difficult time and beat her cancer.

When we were approached by the MN Stars, our local pro soccer team, to put together a beer kit honoring their 2011 Championship win we decided to involve a charity again. This time we selected a charity that benefits the Twin Cities community that both the Stars and Northern Brewer are a part of, and also has a soccer connection - The Sanneh Foundation. This organization works to engage and empower at-risk urban youth in the Twin Cities. Their programming works with kids inside and outside the classroom to develop leadership skills through sports and help youth excel academically. They have a college prep program and tutoring as well as after school sports-based programming. We are happy to donate 10% of the profits from our new Shining Star Pale Ale Kit (recipe sheet attached) to the Sanneh Foundation. For the beer we developed a hop-forward American Pale Ale of sessionable gravity. We heard that the boys on the Stars like their beer hoppy, so we developed a recipe that uses Columbus and Centennial hops for a classic American citrus hop flavor. We decided to use a British crystal malt, Bairds Light Carastan, to change things up a bit. This is a very mellow crystal malt with a nuanced flavor. The end result is an easy-to-like Pale Ale that supports a good cause.