Declaration Ale

Origin Story

Many of us have had the opportunity to get to know Gerard Knoph, one of our well known seasoned pubtender veterans in Bellaire. For those of you who haven't met Gerard, make a point to. His positive attitude and cheerful personality will brighten your day. Gerard moved to the Bellaire area with his girlfriend Dani Davis, an aspiring artist and designer. Both ended up getting jobs at two well known local hospitality establishments in Bellaire, Gerard at Short's, and Dani at Lulu's. After a few months had passed and the two had gotten settled in to their new surroundings, Gerard had decided that it was time to finally pop the big question to Dani, pronouncing his love for her by asking that she give him her hand in marriage. However, being somewhat of a traditionalist (pay attention guys), Gerard decided that it would be only proper to ask her father for his approval first. He also thought that it couldn't hurt to really show his love for Dani by attempting to capture this significant moment in all of their lives, by brewing a beer to commemorate this special occasion. Besides, what father in law wouldn't want to say yes to a guy who brings him a specially made beer, designed to symbolize the love he had for his daughter? When Joe Short learned of Gerard's plan, he decided that he had to get in on the action. Always being a softy for a good love story, Joe offered to help Gerard brew this special ale on a small scale home brew system. The beer style of choice was to be an American India Pale Ale that would utilize 6 different hop varieties. Joe helped write the recipe, and late one night after a long days work, the two got together to brew this very significant beer. All of the beer was later bottled by hand and Dani created special labels designed to go on each bottle. Made from four hand carved color blocks and printed on a Vandercook Press, each label was meant to be a postcard and were attached to the bottles via a rubber band. Appropriately named DeclarationALE, in regard to Gerard's declared love of Dani, when asking her father for permission to propose.