Ales for ALS

Ales for ALS is a national fundraising campaign, started in 2013 by our family’s hop farm, to raise funds and awareness for ALS research. Each year, Loftus Ranches and Yakima Chief Hops donate a unique blend of primarily experimental hops to breweries across the country, with the ask being a donation to ALS Therapy Development Institute of at least $1 per pint brewed. In 2016, over 100 breweries nationwide created and brewed their own beer to best showcase that year’s special blend of hops.

Every year, Bale Breaker brews a special Ales for ALS brew, Bubba’s Brew, named after the owner’s uncle, Scott “Bubba” Hanses, who passed away in 2020 after a long battle with ALS. We release Bubba’s Brew every summer at our biggest event of the year: Ales for ALS is a giant, epic good time. Hosted the last weekend in June, everyone is invited out to the brewery lawn for this free & family-friendly event. $1 from EVERY pint sold that day is donated to the ALS Therapy Development Institute. Together, we’re making progress, pint by pint.

What is ALS?

ALS, or Lou Gerhig’s Disease, is a progressive disorder that slowly robs a person of their ability to talk, eat, or move on their own. Worldwide, 500,000 ALS patients are waiting for a treatment, with someone new diagnosed every 90 minutes. Currently, no effective treatment or cure exists for ALS.

How to participate

There are several ways you can join us in making progress, pint by pint.

• Join us for our yearly Ales for ALS event – a giant fundraiser featuring live music, food trucks, tons of beer and merch, and fun for the whole family. The best part? $1 of every pint poured that day goes directly to the ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS-TDI), the first and largest non-profit biotech focused 100% on ALS research. Keep an eye out for next year’s event – we host it on the last Saturday of June every year!
• Buy an Ales for ALS beer! Our Ales for ALS beer, Bubba’s Brew, is released on draft & in 16oz 4pks in our taprooms and online on the last Saturday of June every year. Not local? Breweries across the country participate in this program, with $1 per pint of every Ales for ALS beer going directly to ALS-TDI. Find a beer near you by visiting the official Ales for ALS website.
• Donate directly to ALS-TDI by visiting their website.

Sesiones Del Migrante

5 thousand miles, 5 breweries, 2 countries, 1 cause. Sesiones del Migrante is a series of beers brewed for the first time in 2017 in collaboration with Mexican and American breweries to celebrate the Mexican migrant workers who travel to the Yakima Valley to harvest hops for breweries across the globe.

It’s relatively simple: No migrant workers = no hops. No hops = no beer. But back in 2017, when Esteban Silva, of Cervecería de Colima (Colima, Mexico), Alejandro “Alejo” Magallanes of Cerveza Loba (Guadalajara, Mexico), and Victoria Garza, of Yakima Chief Hops met at a tradeshow in Mexico City, they knew that this story was simply not being told in the world of craft brewing.

While craft brewers and craft beer fans are known for celebrating the hops that go into their beer (fresh hop season is, after all, the happiest time of year in the industry), the workers who are growing and harvesting these hops year after year are often left out of the conversation. They knew that had to change – and we agreed. So in 2017, Bale Breaker, Cerveceria de Colima, Cerveza Loba, Yakima Chief Hops, and two California breweries– Ronin Fermentation Project (Truckee, CA) & SouthNorte (San Diego, CA) – started Sesiones Del Migrante.

About our Mango IPA

Our Sesiones Del Migrante Mango IPA was first brewed in early August, 2017, when brewers from all four collaborating breweries came to Yakima and joined us in a brew day for the history books.

We’ve continued to brew our Mango IPA every year since, with slight recipe changes but staying true to the delicious tropical, hop-dominant aroma of the original. A portion of the proceeds benefit local non-profits supporting our Mexican migrant community, and we always celebrate the release with a wild release party, featuring live music, taco trucks, and more.

We’re looking forward to making some fun changes for 2023’s brew, but in the meantime, you can still find a few 12oz 6pks floating around the market, as well as some draft as summer closes out. Visit the beer page to locate Mango IPA near you.

How to participate

The goal of Sesiones Del Migrante was always more about awareness than anything else: we want craft beer consumers to remember the back-breaking, grueling labor that goes into harvesting hops every September, and the migrant workers from Mexico who make this possible.

Beyond supporting the release party and buying the beers, we recommend learning more about and donating direcrtly to a handful of nonprofits in our region who are doing important work to help these local communities.

La Casa Hogar

Nuestra Casa

Community Pint Nights

We host a Community Pint Night on the first Tuesday of every month at our Yakima taproom. That day, $1 off of every pint poured is donated to a featured nonprofit, who are typically on site.

To find out who we’re supporting this month and when exactly the event is, visit our Yakima events calendar.

How to participate

Interested in having your nonprofit featured as a Community Pint Night partner? Email us at marketing@balebreaker.com!