Businesses partner with Lake Winni Alliance to support lake health

MEREDITH — The Lake Winnipesaukee Alliance is partnering with local businesses to raise money and awareness while working to protect lake health and water quality.

Sunday afternoon at Twin Barns Brewing Company, several dozen patrols mingled inside and out, listening to music performed pro bono by Kingfisher Band and sipping on Keep Winni Blue Sour, a blueberry-lemon sour-style beer brewed special for the LWA fundraiser.

“Clean water = good beer” is the tagline, and $1 from every pint sold is contributed directly to LWA to support their mission.

"It's really exciting to partner with an organization like the LWA, which focuses on issues so crucial to the Lakes Region and New Hampshire as a whole,” Twin Barns brewer Randy Booth wrote in an email. “The key to great beer is great water, and they are at the forefront of protecting it. We'll do whatever we can to help keep our lakes clean.”

Keep Winni Blue Sour is a limited-batch release and will be available for purchase as long as supplies last. Customers can find the unique brew at both the Meredith and North Woodstock locations.

"Our partnership with the LWA started because we both have a common goal of keeping the waters of Lake Winnipesaukee clean, since water is a necessary component for brewing beer," Twin Barns Brand Experience Manager Erin Sweeney wrote Tuesday in an email.

And just across town, LWA is partnering with Mello Moose Coffee House with a concoction of their own: Winni Waters, a drink made with either Red Bull or spritzer which includes pineapple plus blue Curaçao, topped with a blue, floating shark figurine. From each sale, Mello Moose will contribute $2 to support the mission of LWA.

“I truly support doing whatever we can to keep our lake safe and healthy,” shop owner Maureen Mello said Wednesday morning, noting she hopes the partnership will promote awareness. “It’s been going over very well.”

That partnership is going to run all summer, while thousands of tourists flock to the area to enjoy seasonal recreation and vacation time. 

It’s the third time LWA has partnered with Twin Barns, and the first with Mello Moose, Pat Tarpey, president of the Lake Winnipesaukee Alliance, said it’s a strategy that’s proven successful.