Echoes (Sub Pop/SMASH/Ben Gibbard Collab)

Name: Echoes (From Someone I Used to Know) - Callaboration with Ben Gibbard, Sub Pop, and SMASH Seattle

Style: Belgian Style Golden Strong

ABV: Less than 0.5% ABV 

Quantity: 4pack/16oz. cans

Description: We are sooooo excited to be able to support SMASH Seattle again this year - an organization that provides healthcare and health resouces to working musicians in the Pacific Northwest. And for this year's SMASH beer, we are absolutely tickled pink to get to partner with both Sub Pop and Ben Gibbard, of The Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie, who conceptualized this beer:

"I quit drinking for good in 2008.  I truly do not miss waking up with cloudy memories, the slow realization of poor decisions made, or the hangovers. But there are certain beverages I wish I could taste again. Namely the legendary Belgian beer, Duvel.

"I’m so honored to have partnered with the brewing geniuses at Drink Self Care to create Echoes, a n/a beverage brewed in the style of these Belgian masters. We hope you enjoy it!"

And - boy, that's a challenge! One of the defining flavors in Duvel is its "strong" booziness, which is far and away the most difficult flavor to recreate in a non-alcoholic beer. But we LOVE a challenge. Plus, it was an excuse to play with some fancy specialty malts! So we agreed to give it a shot, knowing that even if we didn't nail it exactly, it would still end up being a super delicious beer. And we are super thrilled with the results!

So what's with the name? Well, it's derived from a Postal Service lyric, from the song We Will Become Silhouettes:

"And I'm screaming at the top of my lungs, pretending the echoes belong to someone...someone I used to know."

In other words, this beer is essentially a rememberance of the past - the good and the bad. Not only was it brewed to help SMASH Seattle raise funds at its annual star-studded benefit show (also featuring Ben Gibbard), but this year's theme is "35 years of Sub Pop", which was started way back in the early 80s by Bruce Pavitt, originally as a fanzine called Subterranean Pop, right here in Olympia, when he went to our (Sara and Nate) alma mater, The Evergreen State College. Additionally, Ben Gibbard just finished up his tour to support the 20th anniversary of the groundbreaking Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie albums "Give Up" and "Transatlanticism" respectively.

In short, Echoes is all about the sentimental yet complicated feelings of our past. A longing to have it back - yet at the same time, relief that we have moved on to become who we are now. And the “used to know” part touches on how we tend to remember our previous selves quite a bit differently than we actually were. In other words, we're hearing echoes from a version of ourselves that we used to know long ago - but don't fully relate to anymore.

WARNING: similar to many juices, kombucha, and other beverages you'll find in the grocery store, this product has not been pasteurized, and therefore may contain harmful bacteria that can cause serious illness in children, the elderly, and persons with weakened immune systems.

PLEASE NOTE: like other beverage industries have been doing for centuries, we mitigate the potential for bacterial growth in other ways, rather than to pasteurize and destroy the nuanced flavors that make our beer stand out from many pasteurized non-alcoholic beer offerings, though we do acknowledge pasteurization is the most effective way to inhibit bacterial growth, or potential for refermentation in the can. Risk may be exacerbated by prolonged warm storage, so to mitigate risk, always cold-store Self Care immediately upon receipt, and avoid exposure to extreme heat.