'This is a charity brew': Maritime breweries join international relief effort called 'Brew for Ukraine'

Danny O’Hearn is a co-owner of Nine Locks Brewing Company in Dartmouth, N.S.

He’s one of about 150 microbrew operators who have taken on a new recipe to raise money for a war torn Ukraine.

“We’re doing the Putin Huylo,” O’Hearn says.

It’s part of an international relief effort called "Brew for Ukraine." The idea is to bottle or can beer typically made by Ukrainian based Pravda.

“We’re making one batch of this, it’s 20 barrels so we’re going to get about 4,500, 473 mL cans out of this one batch,” says O’Hearn.

Pravda is based in Lviv, Ukraine. Shortly after the Russians invaded, the popular microbrewery decided to shift gears.

Vern Raincock stepped in to take on the north American portion of the relief effort.

“For the first couple days, they were of course making Molotov cocktails. They were able to produce in about a two or three-hour period 1,000 Molotov cocktails. Currently, those have been provided to the front line as additional support for the Ukraine resistance,” Raincock says from his brewery in Airdrie, Alta.

The money raised goes to vetted humanitarian relief agencies all operating in Ukraine.

“This is a charity brew. We’ve been given access to the beer from Pravda and the only ask is that when we produce it, 100 per cent of the profits go to causes for Ukrainian relief,” says Brian Titus, the president of Garrison Brewing Company.

The launch date for the anti-Putin product is late March or early April. The beer will be available at Nine Locks and Garrison Brewing locations in the Halifax Regional Municipality.

The goal of the “Brew for Ukraine’ campaign is to raise $4 million for humanitarian relief efforts.