Bar toasts oil spill cleanup efforts with new beer

When David Doble first learned of the oil spill in the Gulf, he wanted to drown his sorrow in beer.

Instead, the co-owner of Tampa Bay Brewing Company channeled his grief and outrage toward something he knows well: making beer.

Starting Friday, the longtime Ybor City restaurant and brewery will sell a specially made beer to raise money to help marine animals injured by the BP oil spill.

Doble named the beer New Horizon after the rig that's been spewing oil since April, the Deepwater Horizon. His staff calls it the Dirty Blonde, which seems to be more appropriate.

The beer is a twist on the brewery's popular True Blonde Ale, a crisp, light-bodied, hoppy beer. Doble added a bittered malt to give it a blackish color and a slight, burnt toasty taste. The idea was to take something pristine and add something to muck it up, Doble said.

Just like the oil in the Gulf, but with a deliciously good outcome.

"I wanted the beer to be symbolic," said Doble, an avid fisherman and boater. "I was really torn apart by the whole leak. I knew there was a good chance we were going to get nailed."

Doble started the 310-gallon batch three weeks ago and will tap it Friday at a 5 p.m. release party. Once it's gone, it's gone, although Doble isn't against making more if drinkers demand it.

The brewery will donate $2 from every $6 pint sold (and $2.50 for Mug Club members) to the Florida Aquarium. The aquarium will help rehabilitate sea turtles, birds and other marine animals in the Central Florida region and could become a federally approved primary care facility, should the need arise.

Doble estimates the beer will raise up to $4,500, a drop in the overall cleanup costs but still significant in sending a message.

"I love this state, and it's so tough not to be able to do anything,'' he said. "I would hope other businesses get involved.''

Every bit will help, said aquarium spokesman Tom Wagner. Donations will go toward food, medicine and shelter for the animals.

Already, the aquarium is feeling effects. Wagner planned to bring a small shark in a tank to Friday's release party but can't afford to waste the seawater. The aquarium gets 300,000 gallons of water every few months from a tanker that pumps it out of the Gulf during trips to Louisiana.

So far, those shipping channels are clear, Wagner said. But that could change.

"We're in conservation mode right now,'' he said.

So rather than a shark, he'll bring a marsh animal like a possum or an owl. And his Mug Club membership card for discounted food and beer.

An odd thing happened when he was making the New Horizon beer. A pipe connecting to the tank started to leak, spilling the black liquid all over the floor.

Fortunately, Doble was able to fix it before it did much damage. The batch was saved.

He wished other leaks were as easy to seal.