From Street Pub to Brew Street

Street Pub to Brew Street

You know that Deschutes event that had seen thousands of Sacramento beer lovers flock to the company’s massive street pub on Capitol Avenue? Well, I have some good news and bad news.

Let’s pull the band-aid off quickly and start with the bad news, shall we?

Deschutes decided to do something else this year, so the street pub is staying in Oregon.

So what’s the good news, you ask?

The Street Pub has been replaced with a Brew Street.

“We took a lot of the components from the Deschutes event and strategies honed during the past three years,” says Larisa Perryman, Director of Development with the Runnin’ for Rhett organization. “It was an awesome event so we wanted to emulate it as closely as we could.”

And that’s what they have done in just about every way except the name and the street pub itself.

“It’s been unfortunate to lose the street pub structure, we got a quote for something like $70,000 to build that out and we didn’t have that in our budget,” Perryman explains.

For the last three years, Runnin’ for Rhett had partnered with Deschutes to put on the Street Pub. In fact, Perryman says the Sacramento stop was typically the most well attended of Deschutes Street Pub Events. And it was a big money maker for Running for Rhett, bringing in more than $80,000 each year. So you can imagine when Deschutes pulled out, Runnin’ for Rhett was left with some serious questions for at least this year (it’s worth mentioning here that Deschutes has not ruled out coming back in the future).

“As a non-profit, we had to figure out what we were going to do to fill that void,” said Perryman. What they are going to do is take on the event themselves. The group already puts on Capitol Beer Fest so they have experience running a beer event. However, Deschutes had taken care of all of the logistics and costs for the Street Pub so, it was all on Runnin’ for Rhett to figure out how to make it work. “Just dealing with those first-year capital investments has probably been the hardest part.”

Fortunately, they aren’t doing it alone. Runnin’ for Rhett partnered with DBI Beverage who enlisted the help of Drakes, 21^st Amendment, Heretic and Saint Archer to not only provide beer but help fund and promote the event as well.

“The four breweries have been really supportive,” says Perryman.

“We feel lucky that by just, you know, brewing some beer and then giving it away we can help so much to support a local non-profit with their cause,” says Drake’s owner John Martin. “What is more fun and rewarding than that? Runnin’ for Rhett is a cause that everybody at Drake’s can get behind.”

What’s on Tap

So what’s on tap at Brew Street? Well first, let’s talk about the number of taps. There will be more than 100.

“It’s 102 taps throughout the event,” Perryman explains. “We’ll have one long bar area, it’s going to be 100 feet long and it will have 60 taps. And throughout the event, we’re going to have a couple of draft trailers that will have the remaining 40 taps.”

Each brewery is supplying 60 to 70 kegs for the event and Perryman promises that the beer will cover a wide variety and won’t be just IPAs. (Click here for the complete beer list)

“There are several beers that are ones that you’ll only ever be able to get at the taprooms,” she promises.

And each beer, no matter if it’s a Pale Ale or a Barrel Aged Stout, will cost you one five-dollar beer token (you can get five for the price of four if you pre-buy before 10/12). There will also be six food trucks on hand as well as a taco tent put on by Zocalo.

Drink to Someone Else’s Health

It’s not often you get to drink to someone else’s health, but that’s what’s at the heart of Brew Street. The purchase of each beer will go toward the Runnin’ for Rhett Foundation. The non-profit is dedicated to the life of Rhett Seevers who died at just seven from complications to cerebral palsy. The group inspires people to get up and run to get moving in the way Rhett wanted to, but couldn’t.

Part of that inspiration comes in the form of the group’s youth fitness program which provides kids with an afterschool training program with the ultimate goal of completing a 5K. “We started with two schools, about a hundred kids,” says Perryman. “And in the last 8 years, we’ve grown it to 68 schools and three thousand kids.”

“The Seevers took the tragedy of the loss of their son Rhett and turned it into an organization that is a wonderful advocate and financial supporter of youth (and adult) fitness.  We do a lot of beer festivals, around NorCal and Sac but this one seems extra special to us as we get ready to open the BARN,” says Martin.

Events like Brew Street and Capitol Beer Fest help fund the program as well as provide shirts, medals and race entries for the kids. In the spring Runnin’ for Rhett is starting a new program where it will donate 1,000 pairs of shoes to kids in the program and in the near future hopes to be able to give every kid in the program new running shoes.

The Important Info

The family-friendly Brew Street event is this Saturday from 2-8 PM between 17 and 19 streets on Capitol Avenue. Check out the Brewstreetsacramento.com for more information.

Around 15,000 people are expected to attend this year so it’s going to be a big party that is also going to help kids get active. And that is the best news.