A Cincinnati brewery’s newest beer has an unexpected feature on its label: Braille.
The brewery, West Side Brewing, has teamed up with a local organization to release “Braille Ale,” a raspberry gose set to hit local markets in two weeks time. Not only will the beer make it easier for those with visual impairments to know what they are buying, a portion of sales will also go to the Cincinnati Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired (CABVI).
Hannah Firestone, the community relations and development specialist for CABVI told local news, “People need to be able to get information, and we need to be able to get them that information any way that we can.” Putting it on a can of beer is just the start, she says.
But the process of getting braille onto the label wasn’t quick, according to West Side Brewing co-founder Joe Mumper. Altogether, it took ten months to create, with special equipment from Germany used to print.
“We had no clue if this was even possible,” said Mumper. “We don’t have deep pockets, so we can’t write big checks, but we can do things like partner with organizations like this.”
The Cincinnati brewery isn’t the first to include braille on beer packaging. For over a decade, thoughtful Japanese brewers have been stamping variations of the word “beer” in braille on top of their cans, to differentiate the drink from regular cans of soda.
