‘Brew Good to Do Good in the Fight Against ALS’

“It’s the perfect cross section for us and Ales for ALS has been around for quite some time,” Carol Godfrey said. “The idea is that the hops grower donates the hops for free and then they raise awareness and funding. Well, when the College of Human Sciences announced they would have a brewery, we said ‘Oh, when they get up and running, we’ll try and do an Ales for ALS event.’ It’s a combination of brewing good and doing good because the college gets to brew, and at the same time do good to raise funds for ALS research.”

“I’m excited for the unveiling of the beer, and I wish the degree was available when I was in school,” Gary Godfrey added. “I was diagnosed with sporadic ALS, which means it’s not hereditary. It’s important to raise awareness for ALS and raise money for ALS research and this Ales for ALS event does both of those things. I’m excited to partner with New Realm Brewing–Auburn and the College of Human Sciences.”

Hill, who created the 2586 ALS ale as part of his summer internship project with brewing science, described the beer as an easy drinking pilsner that will be around 5% ABV.

“I found the Brewing Science and Operations program online and I love beer, so I was curious about the beer making process and got really interested in it and found Auburn’s program,” Hill said. “This will be a lighter dry hopped pilsner using Yakima Chief Hops Ales for ALS blend. One dollar of every beer sold out of the taproom on the day of the event will go towards Ales for ALS and we’ll continue to sell the beer with the proceeds going to the organization as long as the beer is on tap.”

As it pertains to Auburn and Oklahoma coming together for this event and how the idea was started, Carol Godfrey said she wanted to involve athletics and that’s how Deal and representatives from Oklahoma became involved.

“When we started thinking about this, we said ‘What can we do to involve Luke Deal and athletics too?’” Carol Godfrey said. “Also, it’s the first time Oklahoma will visit Auburn, and we were wondering if anyone at Oklahoma has been affected by ALS? It turns out it was Ricky Dixon, a famous defensive back for the Sooners, who also played in the NFL, so we reached out to his widow, Lorraine Dixon, and she will be here for the event. All of them will be honored during the coin toss prior to the start of the Auburn-Oklahoma game.”

Deal emphasized how much the Godfrey’s mean to him and how important the Ales for ALS event itself involving the College of Human Sciences means for raising awareness.

“Carol and Gary have become really good friends of mine and very supportive of me and my family, especially throughout the battle with my dad and are just great people,” Deal said. “To see some awareness coming to our campus is pretty special with the Ales for ALS event happening before the Oklahoma game. All of that truly means a lot to me. It’s such a rare condition that you don’t hear about it as often, so the awareness is what you really need in order to help fight. The Godfreys are great people, and they’re doing great things on this campus as well as the College of Human Sciences. They’re doing a wonderful job right now, and I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

Ales for ALS was created in 2013 by a hop farming family to raise funds and awareness for ALS. Since then, more than $5.5 million has been raised for ALS research at the ALS Therapy Development Institute through the program. Brewers from 47 states and six countries have participated, with New Realm Brewing–Auburn being the latest in a long list of supporters.