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FINNEGANS Brew Co. was founded in Minnesota in September 2000 as the world’s first beer company to donate 100% of its profits back to the community. Proceeds are donated to the Finnegans Community Fund which focuses on feeding the hungry by working with local food banks and produce growers in the every market FINNEGANS is sold. Its slogan is "Turning beer into food."

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Contents

• 1 Finnegans Community Fund
• 2 Beers (need to create new link)
• 3 History
• 4 Reverse food truck

• 5 References

FINNEGANS Community Fund

FINNEGANS Community Fund was founded with the unique mission to "Create sustainable change for those affected by the cycle of poverty” by donating 100% of the profits from its beer sales to local charities.  Over the years, the mission evolved to focus specifically on alleviating hunger by purchasing food from local farmers to deliver to local food shelves, surpassing the $1 million mark in community impact in 2016. With the development of the Finnovation Lab, the mission has again evolved to be a catalyst for other social entrepreneurs to further charitable causes in their local communities. (A)

Beers

Current beer line-up:

• Finnegans Irish Ale, (4.75% ABV, 20 IBU), their flagship ale

• Cluster Truck IPA (6.5% ABV, 65 IBU), an American IPA

• Tipped Cow Farmhouse Ale (6.0% ABV, 35 IBU), a Belgian-inspired Saison style

• East Town Pilsner (5.2% ABV, 38 IBU), a traditional Czech-style Pilsner

• Dead Irish Poet Stout (7.0% ABV, 38 IBU), a Cork-style Extra Stout

• Barrels of Life Series and other limited-edition brews

Finnegans distributes their brews to Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. All profits are used to alleviate hunger within the area where the beer was purchased.

History

In 1997, Jacquie Berglund (who would later become founder and CEO) moved back to Minnesota and her friend Kieran Folliard (founder of 2 Gingers Irish Whiskey and Kieran's Irish Pub in Minneapolis, Minnesota) offered her a job as the director of marketing. While working with Folliard, she got the idea that it would be wonderful if they were able to sell beer and use the money from it for a worthy cause. Folliard sold Berglund his part of what at the time was called "Kieran’s Irish Potato Ale" for $1, this would eventually become Finnegans Irish Amber Ale.

However, the Internal Revenue Service disagreed that a beer company could be a non-profit as their primary work involved no charity. So Berglund set up Finnegans as a beer company which donated all profits to the Finnegans Community Fund. She was the only employee of Finnegans up until 2009 although she did have the assistance of some volunteers, and also did quite a bit of volunteering on her own.

In 2003, brewing moved from the James Page Brewery in Minneapolis to Summit Brewing Company in St. Paul, Minnesota.

2005 saw the formation of the TeamFINNEGANS volunteer network, starting with a crew of 8 that would eventually grow to more than 1500 people dedicated to making an impact in their community.

In 2007, Finnegans reached $100,000 in donations and expanded outside of Minnesota to Wisconsin and North Dakota. Proceeds were donated to charities working to end the cycle of poverty.

In 2008, Finnegans started its internship program, giving valuable social entrepreneurship opportunities to “Finnterns.”

Finnegans celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2010 and shifted its focus to alleviating hunger. In 2011, Finnegans raised $45,000 in donations for the funding of 6 new farm and food shelf partnerships, stressing the importance of providing fresh fruits and vegetables to local families in need. 2011 also marked the first year that TeamFINNEGANS fielded a team for the MS150 bicycle ride from Duluth to Minneapolis to raise money for multiple sclerosis.

2012 marked the first year that over $100,000 was raised for the Finnegans Community Fund, contributing to the purchase of 140,000 pounds of local produce.

In 2013, Finnegans first released its first beer in cans, starting with Irish Amber and Blonde Ale.  Community impact reached $500,000.

On March 30, 2017, Finnegans staged the “Chef Food Fight”, inviting five of the hottest Twin Cities Chefs to go head-to-head in a live cook-off featuring Finnegans-inspired recipes. Chef Vincent Francoual of Kierans Irish Pubs of the Irish Pubs Restaurant Group  was crowned the champion and all proceeds benefited Minnesota FoodShare’s March campaign.

In 2014, Finnegans launched a Kickstarter campaign to create a new Extra Stout called Dead Irish Poet. This beer received 260 donations to help bring it to reality and add a third option to Finnegans drinkers.

In 2015, Finnegans celebrated 15 years of “turning beer into food”, surpassing half a million dollars raised to impact the community. In March of that year, they also started distributing their beer in Iowa to benefit the Food Bank of Iowa. (B)

In October of 2017, Finnegans hired their first head brewer, Ryan Mihm (formerly of New Belgium in Colorado and Allagash Brewing Company in Maine), to guide their craft brewing process. (C)

On Saint Patrick’s Day of 2018, the company unveiled Finnegans House to the public in the Elliot Park neighborhood of east downtown Minneapolis. (D)

The 17,520 square foot facility includes a brewery, taproom, Finnovation Lab (a social business incubator and community workspace), and a members-only social club called the Brewer’s Den. Brewing is handled at that facility and in a shared facility in Shakopee with Badger Hill Brewing Company. (E)

Reverse food truck

In March 2014, Finnegans launched the reverse food truck. The idea capitalized on the popularity of food trucks and turned the concept upside down. Instead of selling food, the truck collects food and promotes healthy food options through Finnegans’ partnership with Harvest for the Hungry. It received national attention including coverage by NPR(F), ABC News (G), the Huffington Post (H) and inspired many more trucks around the world. Finnegans now provides other organizations with a toolkit for starting their own reverse food trucks.

References

1. "Why This Popular Minnesota Beer Company Gives Away All Of Its Profits". Co.Exist. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
2. "Finnegans Brewery". Yelp. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
3. ^ "Finnegans Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States". Rate Beer. Retrieved 2015-08-28.

• ^ Jump up to: "Why This Popular Minnesota Beer Company Gives Away All Of Its Profits". Co.Exist. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
• Jump up^ "Finnegans Brewery". Yelp. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
• ^ Jump up to: "Finnegans Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States". Rate Beer. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
• ^ Jump up to: "Finnegans: turning beer into food for 12 years". City Pages. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
• Jump up^ "Finnegans Irish Amber". MN Craft Brew. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
• ^ Jump up to: "Finnegans Charitable Beer Company - Drink Beer & Do Good". Porch Drinking. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
• Jump up^ "About Us". Finnegans. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
• Jump up^ "Supporting our local community". Summit Brewing Company. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
• Jump up^ "Kieran Folliard planning small business hub in Northeast". The Journal. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
• Jump up^ "Finnegans: Mission BeerPossible". Growler Magazine. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
• Jump up^ "Finnegans to Release Dead Irish Poet". Brewbound.com. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
• Jump up^ "Finnegans Beer Dead Irish Poet Extra Stout". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2016-04-20.
• Jump up^ "Interview: Finnegans' CEO Jacquie Berglund on business, benevolence and beer". Little Village. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
• Jump up^ "Finnegans is sending its beer — and donations — to Iowa". Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
• Jump up^ "Effie". www.effie.org. Retrieved 2016-04-20.
• Jump up^ "Finnegans - Reverse Food Truck". Finnegans. Retrieved 2016-04-20.
• Jump up^ "Finnegans Community Fund Opportunities". Volunteer Match. Retrieved 2015-08-28.

Jump up^ "Drink beer, do good with Finnegans". Des Moines Register. Retrieved 2015-08-28.

• Beer in the United States
• Companies based in Minneapolis
• American companies established in 2000
• Food and drink companies established in 2000
• 2000 establishments in Minnesota
• Non-profit breweries
• Beer brewing companies based in Minnesota