The Shandies, Wire Road Brewing partner to create non-alcoholic pale ale, to debut May 16

Local folk rock band The Shandies have partnered with Wire Road Brewing Company to release a non-alcoholic pale ale inspired by their upcoming single.

The non-alcoholic pale ale, Day Trip Tuesday, shares the same name as The Shandies' new song. The pale ale and single debut together on Tuesday, May 16 at a release party at Wire Road, starting at 4 p.m.

Day Trip Tuesday uses a similar recipe to Wire Road's popular Day One Pale Ale, which features light hops and low bitterness.

Since Wire Road's opening in January 2022, The Shandies have been a recurring act at the brewery in Battlefield. Collaborating on a project like a non-alcoholic beverage felt right for Natalie Wlodarczyk and Shannon Stine of The Shandies and Kary Walker, owner of Wire Road.

"We were here for a gig a couple months ago and I just walked up to Kary and was like, 'We have this idea. We wrote this song called 'Day Trip Tuesday,' we think it should be a non-alcoholic beer. What do you think?' And he goes, 'Let's do it,'" Wlodarczyk said with a laugh. "Then he called me the next morning to plan the whole thing."

Wlodarczyk and Stine started writing "Day Trip Tuesday" during the pandemic lockdown. Wlodarczyk said she and Stine frequently took day trips during this time to get outside.

"We'd look at Google Maps and ask, 'Where can we drive within two hours just to go somewhere, pack a picnic lunch, go sit on a riverbank, enjoy the afternoon and then drive home?'" Wlodarczyk recalled. "We were doing one of these and it just happened to be a Tuesday, so we were in the car driving and one of us, we can't remember which one, sang, 'day trip Tuesday.'"

The rest fell into place. For the remainder of the car ride, the two co-wrote the bulk of the song's lyrics and harmony.

"Day Trip Tuesday" is the first single release from The Shandies' upcoming fourth album, "If You Knew Me," to be released in late July. The Shandies worked with Springfield producer Jeff Smith at Studio 2100 on the album.

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When it came to deciding on a non-alcoholic option for the collaboration, The Shandies wanted to create something accessible for anyone who visits a brewery. Stine does not drink alcohol, so creating something that provides the "beer experience," without an alcohol percentage, was important to her.

"We play at a lot of breweries and bars ... a lot of places have kombucha and coffee, which is great, but for the taste of beer, it's nice to have a non-alcoholic option," Stine said.

Wlodarczyk described breweries like Wire Road as family-friendly "community centers."

"In the old days, before we had all these breweries, you would just go to a bar, and you go to a bar to get drunk," she said. "But you come to a brewery, sure to drink, but to play cornhole and watch live music, hangout with friends, throw a frisbee and let your dogs play. It's a whole community now that's not just about getting drunk."

Wire Road experiments with first non-alcoholic beer

Day Trip Tuesday will be Wire Road's first non-alcoholic pale ale. Walker said the brewery has experimented with seven or eight other ideas in the past, but none ever hit the market.

Andy Pearsall, owner of Show-Me Brewing, is the head brewer at Wire Road. With over 13 years of brewing experience, Pearsall said Day Trip Tuesday is also his first non-alcoholic pale ale.

Pearsall said there are two main ways to brew non-alcoholic beer. One method is to brew a batch of beer like normal and then remove the alcohol from it by heating the batch back up to evaporate the alcohol out. This method results in a zero alcohol percentage product, but Pearsall said these products tend to taste more watered down.

The method that Wire Road is using for Day Trip Tuesday involves using a special yeast, maltose-negative yeast, Pearsall said. This type of yeast only ferments some of the sugars in the batch. This results in a 0.4-0.5% alcohol content. To be considered a non-alcoholic beverage, a beer must have less than a 0.5% alcohol percentage. Pearsall said this method produces a better flavor that tastes more like a real beer.

Wire Road Brewing Company is located at 4453 S. Timbercreek Ave. in Battlefield. The brewery is open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: The Shandies, Wire Road Brewing partner on non-alcoholic pale ale