Part of the proceeds from Proud Pour’s sauvignon blanc goes to fund oyster rehabilitation projects. (Photo by Rachel Sadon)

Have you found yourself battling away the apocalyptic blues with booze? The bad news is all the bad news. The smidgen of good news is there are a couple of new ways to support your local priorities—if they happen to include planting bee habitats, restoring oysters to the Chesapeake, or improving bike infrastructure—by drinking.

Two wines have made their way to the D.C. market this month by a company called Proud Pour, whose mission is to pair wines with solutions to environmental issues.

Founder and co-CEO Berlin Kelly, an avid homebrewer who grew up amid California’s wineries, was interested in starting a company, but she didn’t want to just be another product on the liquor store shelf. She says she got to thinking: “Why isn’t there a Toms Shoes or a Warby Parker of the alcohol industry, who is giving back in some way?”

Since society frowns upon giving alcohol to children, Kelly settled on tackling environmental problems. In each market, part of the proceeds from the company’s first two wines, a pinot noir and a sauvignon blanc, go to restore bee habitats and oyster reef ecosystems respectively.

Though Kelly is based in New York and her business partner, a D.C. native, is based in Boston, each region’s sales fund local projects. So if you’re sipping their sauvignon blanc at, say, Chef Tony’s or picked up a bottle ($19.99) at Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits, they’ll fund the Oyster Recovery Partnership’s work restoring the Chesapeake Bay’s population.

“Oysters are this amazing species that lay the foundation for all other aquatic species and clean the water, and the wild population is [basically] gone,” Kelly notes.

The population in the Chesapeake Bay has been reduced to about 1 percent of historic levels by disease and overfishing. Intensive oyster restoration projects have seen successes in recent years in protected sanctuaries and non-profits like ORP have worked to build a sustainable aquaculture and commercial fishery in Chesapeake waters.

The proceeds from one Proud Pour bottle go towards restoring the reef with 100 oyster shells. And the smooth sauvignon blanc pairs beautifully with oysters, continuing the virtuous cycle. If red is more your thing, part of the proceeds from each bottle of the pinot noir go to plant 875 wild flowers on local farms.

(Courtesy of REI)

If wine and/or environmental causes aren’t your thing, but beer and/or biking are, be on the lookout for a new collaboration between two local breweries and REI, of all places.

In the outdoor gear company’s first foray into the beer world, they’ve teamed up with Atlas Brew Works and DC Brau on a brew to benefit the cycling community.

“We thought it was a cool way to get loud about what we’re tying to do to make biking better,” says Matt Liddle, speaking to DCist over the phone from an REI leadership meeting in Shenandoah.

For the past few years, the company has funded the Capital Trails Coalition (for a total investment of $500,000) with the goal of cohesively linking the region’s large but fragmented bike trail networks. The coalition has been bringing together the key stakeholders—non-profits, city and state agencies, and the National Park Service among them—to build a “world class network of trails,” as Liddle enthusiastically puts it.

After working with the breweries as part of their United Outside campaign ahead of the opening of the NoMa flagship location, REI, Atlas, and DC Brau decided to team up again.

The two breweries collaborated on the beer, a sessions IPA, and REI’s team designed the can. One hundred percent of the profits will go to the Washington Area Bicyclists Association to support the Capital Trails Coalition.

They’re launching it at a release party on Sunday, with free beer, gold sprint races, and giveaways. It’ll be on the shelves starting on Monday for as long as supplies last.

As for whether REI will be jumping back into the brewing world any time soon, Liddle says, “I don’t think we’d do a beer just do to do a beer. But this was a chance to raise awareness for something that we all believe in.”

You can find Proud Pour in these restaurants and stores and Rally Cry at these markets and liquor stores.