Mill Creek Metroparks Partnership

We are proud to announce a new series of beers crafted in partnership with the Mill Creek MetroParks Foundation! If you know us, then you know that we love our lagers at the Creature. We also love hops, of course. In an effort to more seamlessly combine the two, we began working on an experimental series in this fusion style. You might have even tasted the “Experimental IPA” that we had on tap in the taproom. Maybe you’ve seen the term “Cold IPA” floating around in the beer world lately, and now you’ll see a lot more of it here in our small corner of the beer world.  We decided to stick to this name for our new-styled beer series, though we feel it’s a bit of a misnomer, and here’s why: We are aiming to take our favorite characteristics of lager fermentation and combine it with all of the beautiful and versatile hop characters of a new school IPA to create a beer that throws out huge hop aromatics and flavor but finishes super clean and crisp, like our beloved pilsners. We have spent a lot of time experimenting in order to structure a recipe entirely around a different set of processes and ingredients, rather than simple overly hopping a lager in the style of an IPL. However, because it is technically a lager, it doesn’t necessarily fit into a typical Indie Pale Ale category either. Thus, Cold IPA is the most encompassing style name to indicate that this is, in short, a blend of the two styles. The entire series will incorporate these new techniques, each with their own set of hops and unique ABVs, that are inspired by various parts, locations, or structures found in Mill Creek Metroparks.

Our inspiration from Mill Creek Park is one that anyone who is from the greater Youngstown area can understand. Although we ourselves have lived in Youngstown for over a decade and have always frequented the park, we have experienced the park in an entirely new way with our daughter, and that has caused us to develop an even deeper appreciation for it. This park is truly a relief and a refuge, which was especially true during the height of COVID. It’s meant a lot to have this beautiful and peaceful place to retreat to. We started trekking the park on hike and bike trails with the stroller, and over the past two years have been working on hiking every trail in the park. It is truly an amazing resource that we have here in Youngstown, and we want to help showcase to the community that it is something that we should all utilize, cherish, and respect. This series was inspired by the intention to do all that we can to help preserve and maintain this wonderful place right here in Youngstown that has come to mean So much to us. Therefore, this entire new series of Cold IPAs is dedicated to Mill Creek Park, and a percentage of all sales will be donated to the Mill Creek MetroPark Foundation. Our hope is that this series can be an ongoing donation that they can count on in order to keep doing the great and much needed work that they do for our parks.

We hope Youngstown enjoys this first release, and that all folks can feel as though they are in some way a part of helping to sustain, promote, and further educate us all through the incredible resource we are so lucky to have in Youngstown, Ohio. Cheers to Mill Creek MetroParks!