WECU, a Bellingham-based credit union, partnered with District Brewing to create a beer to benefit Max Higbee Center. The beer makes its debut at the upcoming April Brews Day event in Bellingham on April 29th.
The Vault ’36 IPA is described as a light and fruity IPA. For each pint sold at both District Brewing locations, they’ll donate $1 to Max Higbee Center
District Brewing has locations in Mount Vernon (brewery and taproom) and in Ferndale (taproom). WECU has branch locations around Whatcom Couty. Based in Bellingham, Max Higbee Center supports and empowers teens and adults with developmental disabilities to build community, friendships, happiness, life skills, and health through recreation.
April Brews Day is the annual beer festival that happens in downtown Bellingham. Like the beer produced by District Brewing and WECU, April Brews Day is a fundraiser for Max Higbee Center.
Here’s the official announcement about the project and the beer’s release.
WECU and District Brewing Partner for Beer Benefiting Max Higbee Center BELLINGHAM (April 26, 2023) — WECU has partnered with District Brewing to create Vault ’36, a beer that will benefit Max Higbee Center through the donation of $1 from every pint sold at District locations. The beer will debut at April Brews Day, a fundraiser event for Max Higbee Center which WECU is the Title Sponsor.
“This partnership with District Brewing for April Brews Day and the charitable component of the beer makes a lot of sense,” said Kent Bouma, VP of Business Banking at WECU. “District Brewing is a member business of WECU, so we love promoting them. Plus, having a WECU-themed beer, which patrons can taste at April Brews Day, an event that we’re sponsoring, makes our presence at the event that much more authentic.”
The beer was brewed at District’s Mount Vernon location. Members of WECU’s business banking team, including Bouma, were involved in the brewing process. Vault ’36 is a new recipe from District Head Brewer John Kochendorfer. The light and fruity IPA was crafted with the attendees of April Brews Day in mind. The name is a nod to WECU as a financial institution and the year the credit union was founded – 1936.
“We’ve done some other collaboration beers but this one is special,” said District Brewing Owner Mark Shintaffer. “WECU has been with us since we opened our first brewery in Mount Vernon. We appreciate our ongoing partnership with WECU and are excited to bring this beer to April Brews Day.”
For more news about recent beer releases, visit the Washington Beer Blog’s New Beer Releases page.