Home Posts tagged Easy Company Brewing

Easy Company Brewing to Bring the BUNKER! to the Big E

By
Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Easy Company Brewing, a veteran-owned brewery whose mission is to help veterans and first responders by donating 100% of its profits to charities that do great work on their behalf, will be exhibiting at the 17-day Big E at a new beer garden called the BUNKER!

This will be a military-themed booth in front of the transportation building, behind the Maine building on the Avenue of States. Visitors to the BUNKER! will find several craft brews and swag — hats, sweatshirts, koozies, and more — the sale of which will support nearly a half-dozen charities that support veterans, first responders, and their families.

The beer garden will sell not only Easy Company Brewing’s two craft brews, but also Hanx Coffee, a new company created by actor Tom Hanks that has the same mission — to support veterans.

Co-founded by John DeVoie and Jeff St. Jean, friends and veterans who served together with the 104th Tactical Fighter Group in Westfield, Easy Company Brewing produces craft beers that celebrate chapters of the powerful story of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, known simply as Easy Company. This was the ‘band of brothers’ whose exploits during World War II are famously chronicled in the Stephen Ambrose book and HBO miniseries (produced by Hanks) that both took that name.

Easy Company Brewing now boasts several craft beers, including Currahee American Lager, named after Mount Currahee, which the men of East Company would scale nearly every day while training in Toccoa, Ga.; and Ald-Borne New English IPA, named after the small village in the south of England where Easy Company trained for the D-Day invasion.

The Easy Company Brewing story is unique not only because it blends beer with military history, but because, through its companion foundation, 100% of its profits go to support charities, specifically those that benefit veterans, first responders, and their families. These charity partners, all of which give a minimum of 80% of every dollar to boots-on-the-ground activities, are: the Fisher House Foundation, Homes for Our Troops, Operation Second Chance, Special Operations Warrior Foundation, and the Tunnel to the Towers Foundation.

The BUNKER! was created to bring attention to Easy Company Brewing and its unique mission — and to provide fairgoers with another intriguing craft-brew option, as well as Hanx Coffee.

“Our intent is to honor those who serve and have served with a kick-ass presentation,” said DaVoie, noting that the new beer garden will feature the flags of all the military services, a large American flag, sandbags, a Willys Jeep, and more. “We’ll be in a high-traffic area, so we hope we can attract large numbers of visitors to help us carry out our important mission.”

Added St. Jean, “we’ve had a presence at the Big E the past two years, and it has worked out well for us. With the help of the Big E and its president and CEO, Eugene Cassidy, we’re stepping up, moving to a larger, more visible space. We think this will help Easy Company Brewing gain more exposure and more support for the work carried out by the charities we partner with.”

Brewing Up Something Positive

By
Opinion

Editorial 2

 

It has become somewhat of a tradition at BusinessWest to make Veterans Day a time to put a hard focus on those who have served, and also how veterans have helped shape our region’s business community. And over the years, there have been some great stories to tell.

But there are few better than the one involving a relatively new venture called Easy Company Brewing (see story on page 4).

It involves two veterans, Jeff St. Jean and John DeVoie (the latter of Hot Table Fame), who have come together on a very unique enterprise that blends history, entrepreneurship, some great beer, and an admirable willingness to do something to help those who have served their country.

Easy Company Brewing was created to celebrate the service, and many accomplishments, of the fabled ‘band of brothers’ from the 101st Airborne Division, as captured in the Stephen Ambrose book and HBO miniseries.

DeVoie and St. Jean, who have both served with the 104th Tactical Fighter Group based at Barnes Airport in Westfield (St. Jean still does), have long been enamored with the story of Easy Company, and came up with an idea to brew beers that would honor those men while also raising money to support nonprofits that provide services to veterans.

Indeed, following the model of Newman’s Own, 100% of profits are donated to several different nonprofits that support veterans, such as the Tunnel to the Towers Foundation, which has several programs to support first responders and veterans, including a program to build mortgage-free smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders, and another to provide mortgage-free homes to surviving spouses with young children.

Meanwhile, and this is the fun part, the beers being developed by the company follow the story of Easy Company, from their training in Georgia to the south of England, where they trained for D-Day; to the Normandy coast in France; and then to the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.

The company’s efforts are drawing considerable support from individuals and businesses, as well they should. This is a noble mission, and one that deserves the backing of all those who want to recognize and honor our country’s veterans and do their part to help them.

In a way, Easy Company Brewing is making every day Veterans Day, and that’s an attitude worth emulating — by our businesses, our nonprofits, everyone.

We salute their efforts and encourage them to carry on.

Easy Company Brewing to Launch in Springfield 

By
Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Easy Company Brewing will be launching Springfield’s newest brewery Thursday at the Student Prince in downtown Springfield.  

Easy Company Brewing (ECB) is a veteran-owned business that is committed to donating 100% of its profits to veterans, first responders, and their families. The name and its mission are inspired by the men of Easy Company from WW II, made famous by the book and mini-series Band of Brothers. 

Following in the footsteps of the men of Easy, ECB is committed to brewing drinkable European style beers with “a little bit of American boldness and edge,” while honoring the men and women who serve or have served our country. All of ECB after-tax profits, will be donated through its companion foundation to a number of charities that do work on behalf our nation’s heroes.  

Founders Jeff St. Jean and John DeVoie served together in the Air National Guard, and have teamed up to create this new beer brand in the City of Homes. St. Jean is still serving, and DeVoie is one of the co-founders of Hot Table, a Springfield based fast casual restaurant company.  

ECB beers are currently contract brewed locally in Western Mass., but DeVeVoie and St. Jean hope to build a brewery and tap room in Springfield at some point.  

The ECB launch party will happen Thursday, 5-8 p.m. at the Student Prince & Fort, 8 Fort Street, Springfield, MA. Their beers are currently available for sale at Table & Vine in West Springfield. Other retailers will follow this summer.