No.1 Firehall Kolsch (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

BEER FOR A GOOD CAUSE

No.1 Firehall Kolsch ready to quench thirst and raise money for Kamloops charities

Mar 16, 2023 | 4:15 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Kamloops Firefighters’ Charitable Society have begun a new partnership with a local brewery to fundraise for international relief efforts and local health care. The ‘No. 1 Firehall Kolsch’ from Iron Road Brewing will pay tribute to Kamloops’ oldest surviving firehall.

Thursday afternoon (Mar. 16), 4,000 empty aluminum can were working their way from a pallet at the back of the brewery into a hopper, and filled with the delicious Kamloops Fire Rescue-inspired German kolsch.

The partnership between KFR and Iron Road Brewing was born more than a year ago during the struggles fundraising during of the COVID-19 pandemic. The attention-grabbing logo on the can is of the original Kamloops firehall.

“That’s the Kami Inn back in 1905 — that was the first picture ever taken with it. The No.1 Firehall Kolsch is kind of representative of that and it was the No.1 firehall back then. We just wanted to bring back the history of the department and that shows how far we’ve come and how old our department is. The Kami Inn is still there, Iron Road is new but the beer comes from the past 100 years,” said KFR Firefighter Josh Cowen.

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The initiative through the International Association of Firefighters Local 913 will raise money for charitable society which in turn will help fund worthy causes throughout the city. Because there is no overhead for the union, 100 per cent of the profits will go to charity.

“One-hundred per cent of the profits go to the local charity, Kamloops Firefighters’ Charitable Society,” said Cowen. “We are just going to pour all the money back into Kamloops itself. Places like Royal Inland Hospital burn fund, different things like that that we see are the best fit.”

The beer will be available at ten local liquor stores and Iron Road Brewing.