A New Collaborative Brew
We have teamed up with Peabody Heights Brewery to bring you the palatable summer crusher of the season. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the our award-winning Penguin Coast habitat, we’ve collaborated on a limited release Pale Ale named for one of our African penguin chicks this season, Peabody (aka Sweet Pea)!
The light, crisp pale ale is low in alcohol coming in at 5% ABV and high in drinkability. In a nod to the penguins’ favorite fish, Sweet Pea’s Promise is made from a new kind of hops, called Anchovy Hops, that infuse the beer with subtle hints of melon, hard candy, and pine.
There’s serious business behind this fun collaboration. Proceeds from the sale of each can will be donated to support the conservation of this endangered species. Conservation is crucial for African penguins, and our promise ensures a future where their species can thrive in the wild.
Look for this beer on draft and in cans around the city soon!
Conserving Endangered African Penguins
The Maryland Zoo cares for the largest colony of African penguins in North America. Over more than four decades, the Zoo has established one of the most successful breeding programs in the world for this species. In this time the Zoo has also been a leader in developing protocols to guide African penguin care.
Although the Zoo maintains a thriving colony, African penguins are endangered in their native range. African penguin populations have plummeted to less than 1% of their size a century ago due to habitat degradation, oil spills, heavy shipping traffic, and seismic activity from offshore oil and gas prospecting. Currently, the biggest threat to African penguins is difficulty in finding food. Some of this is due to climate changes shifting the currents in which the penguins’ prey travel. But the largest part of this problem is competition for fish with another species–humans. As humans take more of the fish that African penguins rely on, each bird has to travel farther to find the food it needs–and each one has to expend extra energy to do so. This cycle affects the health and survival of individual penguins and often leads them to abandon their chicks.
The Zoo’s expertise in caring for African penguins here in Baltimore can be a valuable tool for protecting penguin populations in southern Africa. From sending staff to Southern Africa to help rehabilitate oiled birds and hand-rear abandoned chicks for release, to empowering our visitors to take action, the Zoo is working to tackle multiple threats that African penguins face.
In partnership with Peabody Heights Brewery
