Happy Thursday! I hope you’ve all had a great week… here at the Ream Team headquarters it’s been a doozy. We’ve had a sick little guy, and we can honestly say that we’re REALLY looking forward to the weekend. Day Y Noche will be with us tomorrow night, and we can’t wait for some great Mexican food and beers!

If you’re reading this blog, I’m going to assume you’re either my mom (hi mom!) or somewhat into craft beer. One of the best things about craft beer is the ever-changing landscape of styles and tastes. In Licking County alone, we’ve got 10 incredible breweries that offer you a myriad of different tasting experiences.

Many brewers now are throwing together incredible mixes of several ingredients, and goodness knows we love the all the crazy concoctions. But, in the midst of all the milkshake-mango-habanero IPA’s out there, we find ourselves also appreciating simplicity. Our next beer release is the opposite of a crazy combination – it’s a single malt, single hop brew, otherwise known as a SMaSH beer.

Beer nerds – the SMaSH style is calling your name. These beers exist to bring forward the incredible flavors of a single type of hop and single type of malt. After drinking a SMaSH brew, you can say with certainty a sentence like, “I love Citra hops!” and no one will question whether it’s actually THAT hop or the particular combination of all the hop flavors in the beer that you love. In addition to drinking some amazing beers (and sounding really smart!), you’re training your palate to really understand the flavors that you are tasting. Training your palate to the different flavors and varieties in craft beer allows you to both hone in on styles you’ll love, and expand your style selection.

At Trek, we will be rotating through different SMaSH brews. Each one will be tied to a different cause in the community, and we’ll be donating a dollar from every pint sold to that cause. We’ve chosen this style in particular to be our “community tap” because we like the imagery associated with SMaSHing through the barriers around these causes.

We’ve brewed SMaSH: Homelessness once before, but we’ve had many requests to bring it back. Your chance to taste it is coming up soon. This Red IPA is brewed with RedX malt and Amarillo hops. It happens to be one of John’s most favorite combinations, and we know you guys love it too. One dollar from EVERY PINT sold of SMaSH:Homelessness will be going towards our The House That Beer Built project. This brew will be on tap really soon, so watch Facebook and Instagram for release details. Help us change the world for the better, one beer at a time.

Cheers friends! We’ll see you this weekend!