Drink beer, do good with Finnegans

While there are probably plenty of fun-loving college students who would claim beer is food, there's one woman — and one Minnesota company — who can really back up that claim.

In 2000 Jacquie Berglund founded Finnegans, a company that sells beer and plows 100 percent of its profits into community food pantries and programs that deal with those affected by hunger. In 2012, Finnegans profits bought 140,000 pounds worth of local produce in the four states where Finnegans' products are sold — Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. And soon, hungry (and thirsty) Iowans will reap the benefits of turning beer into food when Finnegans hits our market. The company will start rolling their products out in February. Berglund said all the shelves should be stocked by March 1. The company will be partnering with the Food Bank of Iowa.

Berglund, who is also the company's CEO, has a very long and impressive CV, ranging from working as a project coordinator for the Baltic Rim Economic Forum to managing the marketing for a group of Irish pubs. The latter, naturally, led her to beer. She first partnered with the pubs' owner, Kieran Folliard, to create Finnegans Irish Ale, the profits from which would be donated as part of the company's giving strategy. Eventually, "Keiran could see that I was a lot more interested the beer project than in marketing for the pubs," Berglund said in a telephone interview. Folliard sold Berglund the Finnegans label for $1 and wished her well.

Fourteen years later, with an average 30 percent growth each year since 2007, Finnegans offers three products – Irish Ale (the flagship beer), Blonde Ale and Dead Irish Poet Stout ("Finnegan's Wake," get it?) – which are brewed by Summit Brewery in St. Paul, Minn., with recipes owned by Finnegans. Next up is a sessionable ale (less than 5 percent ABV) due out this summer. "This is my dream job," Berglund said. The company has also launched a Reverse Food Truck, which accepts food donations instead of selling food.

Finnegans decided to come to Iowa because distributors had seen it elsewhere are were asking for it, Berglund said. "We had people emailing us, telling us they'd like to be able to get our products. We usually wait until we know there's a real push for it," before entering a market.

Jeff Bruning, one of the beer devotees behind el Bait Shop's massive selection (and national recognition), said the bar would definitely be carrying the product. "I imagine we'll sell a lot of it for St. Patrick's Day,"

"Everything we do is trending," Berglund said. "Craft beer, the social enterprise model, local food… ." She recently discovered that Finnegans is the second-longest running social enterprise business – after Newman's Own.

While Berglund said that launching nationally may come eventually, "We're really more about making an impact where we are," here in the Midwest. "I just want to keep this sustainable and make sure we're solid."

Find out more about Finnegans at www.finnegans.org. or on Facebook or Twitter@FINNEGANS.