Popko Porter beer will raise funds for LL music program

DALLAS — Who doesn’t love a local-brewed cold one?

What about a local-brewed cold one that not only benefits local businesses, but students in the arts as well?

That’s exactly what Johnny Popko is working on. Popko, in conjunction with Back Mountain Brewing owners Clay and Charity Cadwalader, and BeanNik Coffee Company’s Matt LaBar, are brewing the aptly-titled Popko Porter. The beer itself is a coffee porter – the coffee, of course, sourced locally from BeanNik – and began brewing on Saturday, Sept. 24, at Back Mountain Brewing. Canning is taking place on Oct. 9 and four packs are expected to be available at the brewery on Oct. 13.

The kicker is all proceeds from the four-packs will go back to the arts at Popko’s alma mater, Lake-Lehman Junir/Senior High School. Popko Porter will also be available on tap at Back Mountain Brewing in very limited quantities.

“About 12 years ago, I used to home-brew, had a lot of fun doing that,” Popko explained, though he said the time it took to complete a brew and the quantity of final product yielded led to him stepping away. However, the craft beer fan went back to the drawing board about a year ago with the idea for Popko Porter.

Having gained a following throughout his years in media, from newspaper and radio, to the current Popko Project podcast, and screenprinting at Axelrad, Popko realized there could be a community-wide benefit from the project.

“But when I had the idea, it wasn’t Porter season, so I kind of sat on it. … I started talking to Clay at Back Mountain Brewing and I said, ‘I’m gonna ask you a question. You can tell me if I’m out of my mind, but I have this idea. I want to create a beer, and I want to take the proceeds and donate to like a music program,’” Popko explained, noting that his podcast is “90%” music focused.

As fate would have it, Clay and Charity share Popko’s alma mater at Lake-Lehman, both 1999 graduates, while Popko wrapped up in 2001, and so they decided the proceeds should go back to the high school.

And though Popko will be the first to admit the idea of having his name on the beer, or even on the podcast, felt a little strange to him at first, it’s the cause that really matters.

“When I started the podcast, I said I wanted to not really have a podcast, but a platform for good,” Popko said. And he immediately followed through on that, raising $10,000 for local musicians through the Shirts for the Scene project.

The beer, as he described, is his second attempt to raise money for a good cause.

A man of his word, Johnny Popko is hard at work, using his platform not to further his brand, but to further a community – musicians, students and businesses alike.

The Popko Project is available wherever podcasts are streaming.