{"id":4315,"date":"2014-11-05T07:41:09","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T14:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=4315"},"modified":"2014-11-06T13:06:40","modified_gmt":"2014-11-06T20:06:40","slug":"brewer-using-new-beer-to-promote-autism-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2014\/11\/brewer-using-new-beer-to-promote-autism-awareness\/","title":{"rendered":"Brewer using new beer to promote autism awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ale\"<\/a>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p>

Mike Uhrich, the owner of Carter’s Brewing, has created an amber ale that he plans to use to raise money for autism awareness.<\/p><\/div>\n

Eight years ago, Mike Uhrich opened Carter\u2019s Brewing in downtown Billings. The craft brewery was named for his son, Carter, then 6 months old.<\/p>\n

This Thursday, he\u2019ll be pouring a brand-new beer, this one named for his 3\u00bd-year-old son, Mason. He\u2019s starting with one batch of 10 barrels, or 326 gallons. If it does well, he might make it a couple of times a year.<\/p>\n

This will be a special beer in two respects. It will be the first amber ale Uhrich has brewed, and all profits from the sale of Mason\u2019s Awareness Ale, as he\u2019s calling it, will go to support awareness of autism. He said he will probably donate the money to Autism Speaks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to take everything we make and write a big check,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mason was diagnosed a couple of months ago with autism spectrum disorder, as it is known technically. It came as a shock for Uhrich and his wife, Becky, but it was also something of a relief.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s refreshing, at least, to know why things are happening the way they are,\u201d Uhrich said.<\/p>\n

So many things that Uhrich considered merely quirky turned out to be classic red flags for autism. Mason slept very well for his first two weeks at home, Uhrich said, then rarely slept for more than an hour and a half at a stretch for the next 18 months.<\/p>\n

Uhrich said he and his wife both \u201csuffered hard,\u201d mostly from sleep deprivation. It was especially hard on Becky, he said, because her pregnancy with Mason had been a very difficult one.<\/p>\n

Other behaviors they now know to be signs of autism included making contact with walls when walking, and walking in a straight line while using peripheral vision instead of looking straight ahead. There were also developmental problems like limited speech, avoidance of physical contact and a tendency to throw powerful tantrums.<\/p>\n

Also, again as is typical, he excelled at some things. \u201cI mean, how many 3-year-olds can count to 500 by fives?\u201d Uhrich asked.<\/p>\n

But Mason had been screened for autism as an infant, and his parents assumed that meant he did not have autism spectrum disorder.<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>\u201cI thought, \u2018Hey, he\u2019s going to grow out of this. It\u2019s just a phase,\u2019\u201d Uhrich said. Mason has had speech therapy and occupational therapy, Uhrich said, and even when they scheduled a \u201cfull-circle evaluation\u201d a few months ago, \u201cI was like, we\u2019re just going to confirm what we already know.\u201d<\/p>\n

But then came the official diagnosis, along with the shock and the relief and the sudden dealing with the unknown. Uhrich said Becky, a nurse, started reading everything she could about autism and how to deal with it. Uhrich said his first reaction was denial. After a while, he had the urge to do something positive, something definite. Like make a beer.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeer is a really good vehicle because you can deal with an issue in a lighthearted way,\u201d he said. \u201cMy therapy for this is, I\u2019m going to use my business to promote awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his eight years as an independent brewer, Uhrich estimates he\u2019s created at least 200 different brews\u2014stouts, pilsners, India pale ales, sour beer, lagers and many, many more. But never an amber.<\/p>\n

Northwest-style amber ales are popular, he said, so popular that they\u2019ve become \u201ca dime a dozen.\u201d But he wants a beer that will sell well and appeal to people perhaps unfamiliar with craft beers. Even so, it won\u2019t be an uncomplicated ale. Here\u2019s how Uhrich described it on the Carter\u2019s Facebook page: \u201cThis beer will be broadly in the American Amber Ale genre with a spicy herbal hop finish atop a blend of Pale, Munich, caramel and Chocolate malts.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll start pouring Mason\u2019s Awareness Ale during regular brewery hours Thursday, 4 to 8 p.m. The brewery is located at 2526 Montana Ave. Uhrich is also knocking a dollar off the regular price, so pints will be $3 and growler fills will be $6.<\/p>\n

Some people he\u2019s mentioned this to don\u2019t get it, he said, thinking he\u2019s merely using his son to promote a new beer, but he says that\u2019s not case.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m using a beer to promote something a hell of a lot more important than a brewery,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eight years ago, Mike Uhrich opened Carter\u2019s Brewing in downtown Billings. The craft brewery was named for his son, Carter, then 6 months old. This Thursday, he\u2019ll be pouring a brand-new beer, this one named for his 3\u00bd-year-old son, Mason. He\u2019s starting with one batch of 10 barrels, or 326 gallons. If it does well, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,14],"tags":[1586,168,1585,169],"class_list":["post-4315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-billings","category-news","tag-autism-speaks","tag-carters-brewing","tag-masons-awareness-ale","tag-mike-uhrich","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}