By Kathy Brown.
On Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019, Steady Habit Brewing Company (95 Bridge Road, Haddam – in Tylerville, behind Tony’s Package Store) released “Resilience IPA,” which to benefit the Camp Fire Relief Fund. What has come to be known as the Camp Fire, named after Camp Creek Road where the fire began, started in the hills above the Brewery on Nov. 8, 2018. It became the deadliest, most destructive, and most expensive wildfire in California history. It burned over 153,000 acres, killed at least 86 people, and destroyed over 18,000 structures. The total damage was $16.5 billion. It reached 100% containment after 17 days, on Nov. 25, 2018. At the height of deployment, there were over 5,000 firefighters (of which 200 were prisoners), over 600 engines, over 100 bulldozers, and 36 aircraft fighting the fires. 700 National Guard soldiers were activated to assist. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Shortly after the fire, the Sierra Nevada Brewery announced their plans to brew Resilience Butte County Proud IPA and asked every brewery in the country to join them. They asked for suppliers to donate ingredients, asked other breweries to donate their time and labor, and asked retailers to carry the beer for free. They asked, and people responded. More than 1400 breweries from around the country signed up to brew Resilience, and Steady Habits Brewing Company in Tylerville, is one of them.
Jim Venditti, owner of Steady Habit, said, “I just want to thank all of the Haddam and East Haddam people who came out this weekend to support the Camp Fire Relief Fund. We raised just about $2000 this weekend. We have about another $1200 left to sell. Please come out next weekend and support a great cause. I expect Resilience IPA to be gone by close on Friday. Thanks to the great musicians who played this weekend – The Loco Motives on Friday, Bruce Gregori, early Saturday, Deadicated Saturday night and Rambelin Dan [on Sunday]. Thanks to all of our friends who came out to support the cause.”
