Two social entrepreneurs have teamed up with one of the country’s favourite brewers to create a beer that will give 100% of its profits to charity
Two Scottish social entrepreneurs have teamed up with one of the country’s most popular brewers to launch a new charity beer company.
Alan Mahon and Josh Littlejohn, the founders of the chain of Social Bite sandwich and coffee shops, have got together with BrewDog to create Brewgooder beer.
The company will donate 100% of profits to clean water projects via the Brewgooder Foundation and has linked up with Oxfam, WaterAid and MercyCorps in a bid to supply clean drinking water to one million people in developing countries in the first five years.
Launching its first product ‘Clean Water Lager’ today, on World Water Day, Brewgooder has also launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund the production of the first 200,000 cans.
Currently available on tap in BrewDog’s UK bars the production of cans will allow it to be sold in bars and supermarkets around the country.
Using beer to drive such an ambitious social change has never been tried before
Littlejohn and Mahon, whose Social Bite social enterprise shot to fame last year after a visit from George Clooney, say they hatched their latest idea in the pub when they were having a discussion about how to set the world to rights.
Littlejohn said: “We wanted to build on the success of Social Bite and develop other models of using business to tackle social challenges. There is a lovely symmetry of drinking good beer and giving clean water.
“We are excited about teaming up with a business of BrewDog’s scale to make a significant impact – with the ultimate ambition to make a dent in a global water crisis that means 650 million people have no access to clean drinking water and 1,400 children die each day from water borne diseases.”
Mahon added: “Using beer to drive such an ambitious social change has never been tried before.
“We’ve come a long way since thinking this up in the pub and we’re thrilled people will be able to become the first Brewgooder drinkers by backing our crowdfund campaign on Indiegogo. We hope that when our campaign is successful, drinkers all over the world will be able to find Brewgooder in their local bar, restaurant and supermarket and we can start to make a big impact where it’s needed.”
Clean Water Lager has been produced in partnership with BrewDog using a unique blend of Saaz and Sorachi Ace hops.
Brewgooder will be offering a range of unique perks to founder members of the company who support the crowdfund, including six-packs of the very first cans of the new beer, limited edition artwork prints and the opportunity to co-sponsor water projects.
Brewgooder backers can support the start of the business through a range of options from £5 to £50, as well as by contributing directly to the Brewgooder Foundation.
The campaign will also reach out to independent bars by offering them the chance to be the first to sell Brewgooder.
Although just starting out, the foundation, whose trustees are made up of Littlejohn, Mahon and BrewDog founders James Watt and Martin Dickie and is being supported by The Hunter Foundation, has already selected its first project.
The foundation wants to install solar powered water pumps at the Nora Docherty School in a remote village in Dedza, Malawi, where the brand’s powerful crowdfunding film (above) was shot last month.
