Plenty of Iowa breweries go out of their way to support charitable organizations, but only one, it seems, was founded with the express goal of supporting a humanitarian cause. That brewery is Blind Butcher Brewing, and that cause is the cure for hereditary blindness.
In 2009, Rob Hage was diagnosed with a hereditary disease of the eye known as retinitis pigmentosa (RP), which breaks down the cells in the retina and causes vision loss over time. His eyesight was gradually tunneling and he could no longer drive, which was a necessity for his job in the Information Technology industry. With no cure for RP and limited treatments available, Hage’s doctors in the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics — a five-and-a-half-hour drive from his family farm in northwest Lyon County, Iowa — informed him in 2017 that there was nothing more they could do to save his vision.
Three years later, Hage would finally get some positive news. In an online seminar in December 2020, Hage’s doctor Edwin Stone, director of the UI’s nonprofit Institute for Vision Research (IVR), announced they’d developed a pathway to a preventive treatment and even a cure for many causes of blindness, including some of the rarest forms of RP.
To Hage and his family, this breakthrough was nothing short of a miracle.
Ready to go all-in to advance and promote IVR’s work, they reached out to the nonprofit with an idea: open a tiny brewery in their middle-of-nowhere farm with the sole purpose of creating awareness and funding for IVR. In September 2021, Blind Butcher Brewing was born, located inside a remodeled machine shed on Hage’s family farm in Inwood, Iowa.
“All of the tips we make at the brewery are donated to IVR,” explained Hage, who was a hobby craft brewer before going professional. “Our initial goal was to hit $50,000 in three years, and we just had our two-year anniversary and we are at $89,000.
“People that are battling this are not aware that there is a cure and so awareness is of the utmost importance. We don’t want to put a dollar sign on it, but just want the public to be aware and realize how big of a news story this really is.”
Blind Butcher is a nano brewery, which means they produce less than 15,000 barrels of beer per year. You won’t find BBB cans or bottles in your local Hy-Vee; you’ll have to visit the brewery in Inwood for a beer on tap or a crowler to go. Their signature beer is BLiNDe Ale, an easy-drinking blonde coming in at 5 percent ABV.
This year, Hage and his family started their own nonprofit, Brews for Blindness. They list two missions on their website: to educate the public on the major causes of vision loss and the latest advancements in prevention; and to “raise funding to make the delivery of these treatments both possible and remarkably more affordable than what big pharma would charge.”
The first brewery to back Brews for Blindness was the Coralville-based Backpocket Brewing.
“We decided to partner with this great cause after meeting with Robert and his wife in our taproom a couple of years ago,” said Backpocket Managing Partner Aaron Vargas. “In the brewing community, we are very close and when we have the opportunity to help, we will.”
In late spring of 2023, Backpocket brewed and canned a beer in collaboration with Brews for Blindness called Sight for the Blind — a hazy India pale ale brewed with citra, vista and azacca hops.
“I knew our brewery wouldn’t be able to produce enough of the beer to sell in retail, and Backpocket has that capacity to do so,” Hage explained. “I talked with Aaron about this and he was immediately on board.”
“Our collaboration with Brews for Blindness is one way that we can help by doing something we know how to do and working with our partners to produce a beer that not only brings awareness to the cause but raises money as well,” Vargas continued. “Our suppliers have been a great resource and have donated some of the raw materials for this brew, which allows for some money to be raised for research.”
Among the materials donated for Sight for the Blind were malts from a family-run malt farm in Wisconsin called Briess Malt and Ingredients Company and hops from Hollingbery Hop Farm in Yakima, Washington.
There may be another Backpocket x Brews for Blindness release coming in the spring of 2024, so stay tuned to social media for announcements. This is also not the last brewery collab in the nonprofit’s future — Hage said he’s talked to roughly half of the breweries in Iowa so far, and all 50 or so said they were interested in participating in some way.
The IVR lab and production facility, where these cutting-edge treatments will be delivered to patients like Hage, is currently under construction on the UIHC campus — right next to Kinnick Stadium, where Backpocket beers are sold on game days.
“Rob’s efforts to raise support for, and awareness of, the IVR is truly inspiring,” Dr. Stone said in a statement of support for Brews for Blindness. “To see a patient do so much to help others with inherited retinal diseases further energizes me and my colleagues to continue working to make these treatments available for all who need them.”
The institute’s research relies on private support, and the Blind Butcher is one of their biggest contributors.
“We will achieve our mission to eradicate blindness; of that we have no doubt,” IVF promises in the statement. “It is not a question of if, but only when.”
“This is a huge story,” Hage observed, “and we are only three years into it. Some day history will write ‘The cure for blindness was made in Iowa, and craft beer has played a huge part in making this happen.’”
This article was originally published in Little Village’s November 2023 issue.
