World of Beer Coconut Creek Pirate Event

Raising money for a good cause always makes the event a little better.  Everyone seems a little happier and the buzz you get seems a little sweeter.  Or maybe it's just me.

Either way, the event that Miss Alex of World of Beer in Coconut Creek invited us to turned out even better than we had imagined.

The event itself was to celebrate "Talk Like a Pirate Day" and included Anchor Brewing and Shipyard Brewing.  We don't have any "nautical" beers in our portfolio, so we were there in spirit alone.  BUT, we were invited to come to raise money for the Animal Rescue Konsortium (ARK) and we could not turn the opportunity down.

So we get to the World of Beer and set up our raffle table and are told that the Shipyard folks had made a giant pirate stand that you can take a picture with and they were going to charge $2 for it and donate all of the funds to the animal rescue.  Now THIS is community.  I dig it and I will forever give Shipyard my blessings for being so kind.

In the midst of all of the raffling, we had a band set up that was awesome.  I wish I had gotten their names because they were a great band and they covered House of the Rising Sun, which will always be a measuring stick of coolness for me.

The staff was awesome and we brought in some samples for them to try.  Rince Cochon of course (the next big Belgian beer in America by my prediction) and Brunehaut Gluten Free Belgian (the unquestionable BEST gluten free beer in the world).  They loved both and agreed to carry them both moving forward.  Soooooo, make sure you stop in to try some Cochon or Brunehaut if you don't have the constitution.

Needless to say, it was a great night and we were able to raise $186 for ARK and make many, many people happy in the process.  Cheers!

Daytona Cubs Beer Fest

This is the 4th Annual Daytona Cubs Beer Festival to be held at Jackie Robinson Stadium and the Renegades have been luck enough to be at all of them (in one way or another).  Always a great time and one that we look forward to.
This time around, we had the good folks from World of Beer helping out and had the talents of some of my SR Perrott buddies on hand.  Rip manned this fest and served up some delicious Boulder and Lazy Magnolia Beers.  To make it all the better, this event also acted as a fundraiser to help raise money for ARK, so we were even more excited to be there.

As with the rest of the beer festivals at this locale, the setting is some of the most beautiful we get to attend.  Sitting just on the outside of the inter-coastal waterway and within a beautiful minor league baseball stadium, I am looking for this to continue to become one of the biggest in the area.

As I stated before, the Renegades and the stadium go back a long way, even before the Renegades existed as a corporate entity.  Not that we weren't who we are, we just weren't official yet.

As another funny aside, the first year that we worked this event, we volunteered to pour Dogfish at this event and introduced Vinnie's boss to a bottle of 120.  Keeping in mind this was four years ago, 120 was less known and much rarer.  Needless to say, he dug it and I try to share one with him every time we work this event.  Nostalgia kinda works that way, ya know.

Well, another weekend down, 4 beer events over the weekend, and the Renegades are back to working out the details for the upcoming events.  Stay posted to see where we will be next.  Cheers!

As an addendum, we'd like to give a HUGE thanks to Clint Cure and the Daytona Cubs as they donated a very generous sum of money to the Animal Rescue Konsortium to help out the dogs that they care so much for.  THANK YOU VERY MUCH Clint, you guys are awesome.  Cheers to you!

ARK Fundraiser at Davinci

For those of you who don't know, the Renegades work closely with an animal rescue group, Animal Rescue Konsortium, which is a no-kill shelter for animals.  These kind folks are all heart and no funding, so we try to include some fundraising whenever possible.  In this case, Mr. Dan Reed at Davinci allowed us to do an entire day of fundraising; giving us some live music, space to bring animals for adoption, and allowed us to do a hot dog eating contest.  Very cool of him and we raised some decent funds to help keep the animals alive.

To start, I received a call from Mr. Terry Jorgensen who let me know that he had an emergency and couldn't make it, but left a check for the cause under the door at Davinci.  As it turns out, he left a VERY generous donation and it became a great start to a beautiful day.

Additionally, Mr. Jim Campbell offered up his musical services and played the event gratis.  He also brought some musical guests with him and they all through out some great tunes.

Add to all this, Casey's On The Corner donated the hot dogs for the eating contest AND donated $1.00 to the cause for every dog sold.  We are very lucky to have folks like this who are willing to help out a cause, especially during an uncertain economy.  

We auctioned off some of the limited prints and some rare brews, including a Westvleteren 8 that drew in a $25 donation from West Costa who also picked up a print for $50.  Very generous of him.  

All in all, we were able to generate $1002 for the animal rescue and made some great connections for volunteers to work at the center.

If you'd like to help ARK in any way, please contact them and offer whatever you can.  I have included the link here to their website and you can follow from there.

http://arkfl.rescuegroups.org/

Cheers!

ARK at Beer Festivals

In case you haven't run into the Renegade Reps at the Jupiter Beer Festival, the DeLand Craft Beer Festival, or the World of Beer CraftFest, you have missed the newest addition to our repertoire.  Over the past few weeks, we have been given permission by the event organizers to bring the Animal Rescue Konsortium (ARK) http://arkfl.rescuegroups.org/ to our events and raise money for this no-kill shelter.

Maximilian is a weimeraner / whippet mix

As a 3-Dog owner and many-time cat owner, I am so thrilled to be able to help out such a group.  There is a common thought among those who rescue animals that they are not sure who saved who.  I do not have the vocabulary to describe to anyone who has not experience this truth how true it is.  Saving an animal is restorative.  It can take a person who has given up on humanity and make them feel like there really is good in the world.  You get to be a part of a group of people who can look at another life form and feel like they really can make a difference.  You get to feel the genuine emotion and appreciation of a life force who knows that you made that difference.  And believe me folks,  saved animals do know that you saved them.....  

Mariah is Available for Adoption Now!

You may know that the Renegades themselves are donating 10% of our annual profits to this wonderful group of humanitarians, but you may NOT know that we have been able to gather some fine artists to lend their hands to making our fundraising both fun and effective.  Thanks also to Mr. Jeff Brown of Boulder Brewing allowing the Renegades to use the Boulder logos and branding to add some spice to this custom artwork.  The collective willingness of all of these people to give has given a new life and meaning to what I do, and I continually find myself feeling an overwhelming joy that I have not professionally felt before.

Let's face it, beer lovers are animal lovers.  What better thing than to take beer and animals and put them together to create an opportunity to enjoy one while saving the other? If you see ARK at one of our events, please be kind and donate to the cause.  You are sure to get some beer-related stuff as a "thank you."  In fact, we'd like to change culture into thinking of SWAG (Stuff We All Get) into a new term, SALG (Stuff Animal Lovers Get)!!

The dogs pictured here are available now.  For the month of February, if you adopt a pet at ARK the Renegades will reward you with a 6 pack of craft beer to enjoy while learning your new family member.