Last month in the Tallahassee Beer Society's "Around The Brew Bend" column that appears every other Friday in the Limelight section, readers learned about a unique road trip the Beer Society took to two well-known Florida breweries along with award-winning local Tallahassee food truck, the Tally Mac Shack. 

The group made stops at Big Storm Brewing in Clearwater and Darwin Brewing in Bradenton on back-to-back nights, sharing some of Tallahassee's best eats and spreading the TLH beer gospel to anyone who would listen.

But once the Beer Society and Tally Mac Shack returned to Tallahassee, they wanted to do something to show their appreciation to Big Storm and Darwin for hosting them. So they partnered with Deep Brewing Company to hold a charity event that spotlighted the Big Storm and Darwin beers that are sold locally in the Tallahassee market.

In the end, Deep, Tally Mac Shack and the TLH Beer Society raised their glasses for charity and raised $1,000 for the Down Syndrome Association of Tallahassee on World Down Syndrome Day on March 21.

"The Down Syndrome Association of Tallahassee was excited to learn the Tallahassee Beer Society, Tally Mac Shack and Deep Brewing had selected us to be the beneficiary of their recent fundraiser on March 21st, which happened to also be World Down Syndrome Day," said Amber Davis Williams, President of the DSAT. "It is partnerships like this that help bring awareness to all segments of our community and raise critical funds needed to serve individuals with Down syndrome and their families. We can’t thank them enough!”

Big Storm and Darwin each graciously donated several types of their brew for the occasion, and a private tasting highlighting those beers was held at Deep Brewing. Tally Mac Shack donated an array of food for the event and the TLH Beer Society helped organize a crowd of over 60 craft beer lovers who filled up Deep and the donation bucket for the DSAT.

The road trip — and fundraiser on the back end — is the first of many planned by the Tallahassee Beer Society and Tally Mac Shack. They'll next visit Jacksonville's booming craft beer scene in late May with the goal of returning and holding another fundraiser that benefits a new local charity.