The Black Cloister Brewery in Toledo, Ohio has a motto – Brew Good Do Good. I have been a regular patron of the Black Cloister since it opened in March of this year. I have tasted every single one of the beers they have brewed to date and so I can testify to the fact that Black Cloister does indeed Brew Good. I have my favorites, of course – Katie, Knight in White Satin, and Cherubim. Unexpectedly in April I also got to experience first hand that the Black Cloister also Do Good. On April 8 my friend Mike passed away unexpectedly at the age of 34 (see my entry Michael’s Memory). Mike was a craft beer lover. He had passed away while drinking craft beer in another Toledo Brewpub (Maumee Bay Brewing Company). For his doctoral dissertation at the University of Toledo Mike was proposing to examine the spatial dynamics of America’s burgeoning craft brewing industry. Yes, Mike was a lover of craft beer. So when he passed myself and Patrick Lawrence, a colleague at the University of Toledo, discussed the idea of bringing together Mike’s colleagues, friends, and family to celebrate his life. Patrick suggested that, after Mike’s funeral service, we invite everyone to the Black Cloister Brewery to raise a pint in Mike’s memory. It was an obvious, yet brilliant, idea. I know Mike would have loved it. For my part I agreed to call the Black Cloister to see if they could accommodate our group. When I called the Black Cloister Tom Schaeffer, Founder and CEO of Black Cloister, picked up the phone. I told Tom what we wanted to do. In the course of our conversation I told Tom Mike’s story – who he was, his love of craft beer, and the circumstances of his death. Tom said that he would be honored to accommodate Mike’s friends and family in a celebration of his life. What happened next blew me away. The next day Tom called me on my cell phone with a proposition. Black Cloister was a new brewery. It had been opened less than a month when Mike died. As a new brewery it was doing a fair amount of experimentation with respects to its brews – tweaking this and tweaking that. Anyway, Tom told me that they had a batch of Irish Red Ale brewing. It should be ready by Tuesday – the day of Mike’s funeral and post-funeral celebration of his life. Tom was so touched by the story of Mike that he proposed naming this particular batch of Michael’s Memory. When Tom told me this I lost it and started to cry. Mike’s death had left me feeling numb but up to that point I had not let vent to my emotions. But now I did. I cried because Mike was gone. I cried because I knew that this gesture on the part of Tom would have meant so much to Mike. I cried because I realized that Tom had listened to Mike’s story, had understood and comprehended it, and had responded to it in the most human of ways. So on the Tuesday after Mike’s funeral between 40 and 50 of us gathered at the Black Cloister to celebrate Mike’s life. Tom had also sought and gained permission from his Board of Directors to contribute 25 cents from the sale of every pint of Michael’s Memory to the Student Progress Scholarship Fund in the Department of Geography and Planning at The University of Toledo. Mike’s family had requested that donations be made to this fund in Mike’s honor. Yesterday I went to the Black Cloister for a couple of beers on my way home. I had not been there for about ten days so was anxious to drop in. I noticed that Michael’s Memory was still available on tap. About half an hour after I arrived Tom Schaeffer called over to me and said “Neil, the Michael’s Memory is gone”. Mandy, one of the barmaids, had just sold the last pint. It was a poignant moment. Part of me had hoped that Michael’s Memory would never run dry. But it had. Now the only memories of Michael that were left were the ones I carry with me in my head. They, fortunately, will never run dry. Brew Good Do Good.