Hello friends,

We have indeed found ourselves in some strange and liminal times.

As the world takes a time out, we find ourselves standing in an abyss whose expanse is just not quantifiable right now. Or perhaps it's a reminder that the abyss is never quantifiable and the distractions we typically employ to forget that just don't have the bandwidth to manage our current predicament.

It is our prayer for you - our friends, neighbors, family, colleagues and brothers and sisters of the planet Earth - that we all, in our own way, find the place within ourselves to face this time with courage, love and the ultimate realization that we truly are all one people - one organism - whose greatest victory comes in the thriving of all others around us. We can realize this, and so many more potentials, and the opportunity to do this is right now. Please embrace it.

As much as we can, IBW is continuing production and distribution of our beer. Just like you, we have bills to pay, mouths to feed and many, many moments that we need to fill with hope and laughter. It has been our analysis that beer helps in that pursuit of belly laughs.

With that in mind, we are releasing two beers today: Fruit Slave, that 7.5% double dry-hopped double IPA made with motueka, citra & mandarina bavaria hops that you know and love.

We've also got a new recipe we're very excited about. TRUST is a 6% lager made with Styrian Wolf hops, a slovenian hop strain that makes this crisp, classic lager a delightful little crusher.

Both beers are hitting all of your favorite bottle shops and liquor stores in Chicago today. Tomorrow they go to the west suburbs, Thursday the north suburbs & Friday the south suburbs. Trust is staying in Chicago only, but Fruit Salve will be hitting Ohio, Florida and Georgia later this week. And, the fine folks at Tavour will be listing Fruit Slave on their app within the next week or so.

A number of you have asked and we're working to find a solution to get you access to some draft beer over the next few weeks as well. We will keep you plugged in on that as it develops.

Hang in there everybody, we've got a rough ride ahead of us, but we can move through this... together. Please give to others as much as you can, but, please, make sure you keep yourself healthy and full as well. You can't give without keeping yourself in order first.

And let's not talk about "getting back to normal". We here at IBW enjoy believing that what was passing as "normal" was quite a bit short of all of our highest potentials. So, let's not "get back to normal" let's move forward to something better, brighter, more informed, more generous and more joyful than we as a species have ever been before.