Big Hug Brewing Brews Only A Pale Ale Away for Charity

LONDON — Big Hug Brewing, the London-based ‘hobo’ brewers, in collaboration with the Pub Love Group, have brewed a beer for the recently established charity, Only A Pavement Away (OAPA), to help raise awareness for the charity.

Big Hug has always had a social conscience at its heart and is proud to have now formalised a relationship with Only A Pavement Away (OAPA). OAPA was established to help those on the streets, or people who are ‘sofa surfing’ find employment in the hospitality industry, by creating an effective conduit between employers and organisations which exist to support the homeless, as well as ex-offenders and vulnerable veterans.

Named ‘Only A Pale Ale Away’, Big Hug Brewing has brewed a 4.6% Pale Ale with an easy drinking profile and will also be donating to the charity from their Corporate Social Responsibility budget. This will help cover costs for flasks that have been given out this year to the homeless in London, Brighton and Manchester as a part of OAPA Fill A Flask campaign. Launching with the team at Pub Love whose owner, Ben Stackhouse is a trustee of Only A Pavement Away, the beer will then be made available to the wider trade through direct delivery in London and a wider network of wholesalers including Nectar Imports. The aim is to spread awareness of the charity further afield and facilitate engagement with businesses within the hospitality sector that may want to get involved as an employer or by other means.

Matt Williams, founder of Big Hug Brewing, said “It was always important for me to try and give a little something back when we set up the brand. I started an initiative called Hugs4Snugs two years ago where we exchange a free beer for clothing donations for the homeless. Seeing what Greg Mangham, the founder of OAPA ,was doing on a Sky news report last year made me think that we had a natural synergy and we’ve now been able to formalize a relationship and can hopefully help them in giving something back – be it raising awareness, helping them with the initiatives, putting businesses that we work with in touch with them or simply raising funds. It will all make a difference to someone”

The Only A Pale Ale Away beer, described by Matt as “just an easy drinking, flavoursome Pale that we hope everyone will like” will be brewed in London with their friends at Portobello and is available on rotation through the Pub Love estate and will be available through Nectar Imports in November. It will be kept as a part of the Big Hug portfolio ongoing with the aim to eventually package and create some national awareness through grocery/retail.

Greg Mangham, co-founder of Only A Pavement Away, said: “This is a fantastic initiative and I cannot wait to taste this delicious beer. We have an ambitious target over the next year, to help 250 homeless, ex-veterans and ex-offenders find employment in the hospitality industry and we need to raise £250,000 in funding to make that happen.”

For More Information

https://onlyapavementaway.co.uk/big-hug-brewing/