As 2017 winds down, as the sun, ever lower on the horizon, yields the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets of The Great South Bay of Fall and Winter, while in our marinas our boats are stowed for the winter, we’ve time to reflect on what was a very eventful year.

GSB Sunset — Bellport. Courtesy, Mike Busch, Great South Bay Images

2017 started off with a great bit of news:   After years of work, Save The Great South Bay would at last have its own beer.   Mark Burford, Founder and Brewmaster Emeritus of Blue Point Brewery and Sayville Class of ’80 really stepped up.   He created Drink The Bay Clean, and got everyone behind it — marketing, retail, distribution — so that with every case of beer sold Save The Great South Bay receives $5, and for every keg $15.

The beer is ‘on pause’ until this April, until the opening of Blue Point’s new brewery in Patchogue.   If you can still find it locally, stock up!   Come the spring, the beer will be available at Nassau Coliseum and in New York City and beyond.   The proceeds will go to supporting our three main programs — The Creek Defender Program (here with special attention paid to The Patchogue River), The I Love Long Island Campaign for bay friendly yard care, and our Shellfish Restoration Program, which seeks to introduce filter feeders like oysters and ribbed mussels strategically by way of cleaning the bay and the creeks that feed into it.

Thanks to Blue Point, we really started 2017 with the wind at our back, and thanks to them, 2018 promises to be a great year as well, as we will have funds to address directly the issues our bay faces.    How often is a beer brewed for a cause?  Can a beer save a bay?

 

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