Dunkin' Donuts Helped Make Its Own Craft Beer

To hell with giving out free coffee—though Dunkin' Donuts is doing that too—to celebrate National Coffee Day on September 29, this year, one of America's best-known brands decided to do something it had never done before… it helped make a beer.

Dunkin' Punkin Brown Ale is a collaboration between the massive Massachusetts-based coffee chain and the significantly smaller craft brewer Catawba Brewing Company located in Morganton, North Carolina. Though sometimes it feels like everything on Earth has already been made into a craft beer, Dunkin' Donuts says that this cold-brew, pumpkin-flavored beer utilizing actual Dunkin' ingredients is the first-ever and only beer to include original Dunkin' Donuts flavorings. The unique brew will be released on the aforementioned National Coffee Day, tomorrow, exclusively at Catawba's four tasting rooms in North Carolina. As part of the project, $1 from every pint will go to Second Harvest Metrolina, a local food bank.

"Craft coffee is at the core of our business so we like to brew up something for National Coffee Day that really delights our customers," Meaghan Duff, Field Marketing Manager of Dunkin' Donuts in North and South Carolina, said in a statement. "That's when we hatched an out-of-the-cup idea—combine craft coffee and craft beer—the perfect pair!" Meanwhile, the co-owner and CEO of Catawba Brewing, Billy Pyatt, told the Charlotte Business Journal he was happy with the results. "It is fantastic," he said.

Apparently, only 60 kegs of this one-time, small-batch beer were produced, and neither brand provided any indication that Dunkin' Punkin Brown Ale will be returning after this launch. So if you've always dreamed of trying an official Dunkin' Donuts beer, you may want to make a break for the Carolina's ASAP. That said, if the beer is a success, it's not like there's any reason it couldn't be brewed again. There'll be a National Coffee Day next year too.