BRANFORD, Conn. — There is barley, hops, and perhaps, there is a little more heart in the latest beer at Stony Creek Brewery in Branford.
For the past three months, Stony Creek has been collaborating with a team of veterans on what’s known as A.O. – Area of Operations Lager. The new brew is part of an initiative to raise money for the first-ever monument in Connecticut honoring veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars.
Sgt. David Viera who served in the Army in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011 is one of the teams spearheading the AO Lager mission.
Standing inside the tap room at Stony Creek, Viera said, “the monument is our goal and veterans are amazing in what they can accomplish when they’re focused on a unified task -- and the beer is just something to make it much easier for us to get there.”
Dan Shannon, the CEO of Stony Creek Brewery said his team has happy to help the veterans project.
“They need that monument, they need it now -- not in ten years from now, we need the monument now – go out and buy AO Lager and help out," said Shannon.
AO Lager is now in various bars and liquor stores around the state with proceeds going to the construction of the monument. Ultimately, Viera said they are hoping to raise $250,000 for the veterans’ monument which would be built on a site in Danbury.
“We have a big hill to climb,” Viera said, “but we are climbing it and we won’t stop until we get to the top.”
At Stony Creek Brewery, a six-pack of AO Lager costs $9.99. The beer is sold in liquor stores around Connecticut... To learn more, click here.
Jimmy Altman is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at jaltman@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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