Honey Beer for Hospice

Lubec Brewing Company provides a donation check to Down East Hospice Volunteers of Washington County.

Left to right: McGinley Jones, co-owner of the Lubec Brewing Company, Barbara Barnett, Director of Volunteer Services, Arlene Wren and Mark Wren. The Wrens provided the honey from their honey bees to the the Lubec Brewing Company. Each time a keg was opened a percentage was saved for Down East Hospice Volunteers of Washington County. After the last keg was tapped, the funds were presented to DEHV at the brewery's location in Lubec.

Photo by Gale White, co-owner of the Lubec Brewing Company.

We've mentioned this creative fundraising endeavor in a prior blog, but Honey Beer for Hospice being such a great success in spite of the pandemic, we felt the background story needed retelling.

Mark and Arlene Wren have known McGinley Jones for many years. Since Gale White and McGinley have joined forces, we have enjoyed watching them create the Lubec Brewing Company. We are so pleased to see that they source local, raw, organic materials for their home brewed beers. Then, the topping on the cake was when they created a pesticide free pollinator garden next to their Taste House and Brewing Company.

That got Mark and I thinking about an organic honey beer. We have made Mead in the past, but we were curious about a professionally brewed beer.

In conjunction with this, Arlene has been an active Down East Hospice Volunteer since 2013 and knows that the organization is completely funded by donations and grants for which they must find and apply; there is no on-going State or Federal funding.

Excitedly, we approached Gale and McGinley with our idea. We are the "Wren" birds, so, as the old saying goes, what if we could kill two birds with one stone? Create a Honey Beer for Hospice!

Mark and I (and his very hard working girls - the honey bees) donated the raw honey. Gale and McGinley donated their labor, expertise, and all other raw materials, which consisted of hops, barley, grains, etc. to create the Honey Beer for Hospice. All profits from the sale of the Honey Beer was donated to Down East Hospice Volunteers of Washington County.

Down East Hospice Volunteers is the only volunteer hospice in Washington County, providing free compassionate companionship and respite care. To reach DEHV - 454-7521 ext.126 or email us at downeasthospice@yahoo.com or via our website, downeasthospicevolunteers.org to learn more about us.