Last year ushered in an unprecedented amount of collaboration between local food and beverage businesses. It was a necessity — few could go it alone and survive months of limited or no in-store patronage, and so we saw collaborative pop-up markets, the creation of a restaurant-owned local delivery service, mutually beneficial feed-the-frontlines programs, and other projects that maximized resources to make ends meet.
Given that experience last year, there’s now an infrastructure to foster collaboration between food and drink businesses and to continue to help those in need, beyond the pandemic.
One such example is the Colorado Care Can, a collaboration between six local breweries and the brand marketing accelerator Fortnight Collective. People can buy an assorted six-pack with beers from the participating breweries (Upslope, Oskar Blues, Left Hand, Sanitas, Bootstrap and Mountain Sun) packed in a can created by Fortnight. Every cent of the proceeds will go to the Colorado Healing Fund, which supports those directly impacted by the March 22 shooting.
“We feel a deep responsibility to help our neighbors in any way we can,” said Upslope founder Matt Cutter in the announcement for the project. “By joining together with local breweries with a common purpose, our hope is to engage the community in the best way we know how and help Boulder heal.”
The can features a half-mast Colorado flag waving, distorting the C in the center into a heart. On the back is the pledge to donate all proceeds to the fund, with 10 stars around it, commemorating the victims of the shooting. There’s also a QR code that’ll take people directly to the fund’s site to make an additional donation.
“Through this design, we wanted to communicate our respect for the victims and give back to them, while also empowering our tight-knit community, which comes together in the face of tragedy,” said Andy Nathan, CEO of Fortnight Collective, in the announcement.
Beers included in the six-pack are Upslope’s Craft Lager, Bootstrap’s Lush Puppy Juicy IPA, Left Hand’s Sawtooth Amber Ale, Oskar Blues’ Dale’s Pale Ale, Sanitas’ Cherry Saison and Mountain Sun’s Colorado Kind Ale.
The Colorado Care Can will be available at the participating breweries along with tote bags with the same design, similarly with all proceeds going to the fund. The cans are scheduled for release May 26.
