Community support has bubbled to the surface once again from one of Vancouver Island's craft breweries. 

Longwood Brewery is expanding its distribution of Telegraph Project Pale Ale to support Telegraph Cove, which suffered a devastating fire that destroyed several of its buildings Dec. 31. 

The pale ale has been in production as a seasonal beer distributed on the north Island for several years, with $1 from the sale of every four-pack supporting the Telegraph Cove Whale Interpretive Centre.

B次元官网网址淲e created this for them in 2021, I think, for a fundraiser for the Whale Interpretive [Centre], but it was only distributed through the cove itself and a couple stores, Port Hardy and Port McNeill. Most of it was sold through Telegraph CoveB次元官网网址檚 little liquor store and on tap," said Harley Smith, Longwood Brewery partner and brewmaster. "It wasnB次元官网网址檛 a great big fundraiser for them; it was just something we put together for the interpretive centre.B次元官网网址� 

Smith said his partner Tracy McLean spearheaded the original Telegraph Cove pale ale venture and the marketing and distribution expansion following the fire.

"We were naming a beer for them in the restaurant on tap B次元官网网址� the Telegraph Project Pale Ale," Smith said. "But then she [suggested], 'why don't we package it for you?' So they decided to put together a label." 

Telegraph Cove put the brewery in contact with Port McNeill artist Kathy Harder, whose painting of Telegraph Cove titled A Passage Through Time became the artwork for the can label. 

After the fire struck, Smith and McLean made arrangements to increase the beerB次元官网网址檚 production and distribution to support Telegraph CoveB次元官网网址檚 recovery. 

B次元官网网址淲e contacted the people that we deal with at Telegraph and said, B次元官网网址楬ey, you guys have GoFundMe pages going. Why donB次元官网网址檛 we just release this beer with wider distribution? ItB次元官网网址檚 already set up as a fundraiser beer,B次元官网网址� and so they were all in,B次元官网网址� Smith said. 

The beerB次元官网网址檚 label has been updated to explain what the productB次元官网网址檚 sales now support and distribution has been expanded. The fundraising portion of the beer's sale proceeds are now split between the Whale Interpretive Centre and Telegraph Cove Resort.

Smith said January is normally a quiet time for the brewery, with the tasting room and store closed, but the fire and public demand for the supporting pale ale has him tracking down emergency supplies of barley so the brewery can produce more Telegraph Project Pale Ale. The latest batch has been distributed to private liquor stores in Nanaimo, Victoria, Campbell River and other north Island communities, as well as the Lower Mainland. 

B次元官网网址淭his stuff happened and everyone took off their 'Dry January' suit,B次元官网网址� Smith said. 

Longwood Brewery is running the fundraiser program until Sept. 1.