The Story of a Goose Island Employee Who Lost His Sense of Taste During Cancer Treatment, But Now Has His Own Beer

The brewery world has a ton of great stories, but this one stands out as one of the great ones.

Johnny Coffman will be joining Boyd Ingemunson on the Mackay in the Morning Show tomorrow at 8:20 to promote a fundraising concert at The Law Office Pub and Music Hall on Friday, March 6th.

A few years ago Goose Island employee Johnny Coffman was battling melanoma – or skin cancer. Johnny is a brand ambassador for the Chicago brewery, so tasting the beer and being able to describe and converse about it is a big part of his job!

Unfortunately, one of the very unexpected side effects of his cancer treatment was the loss of his sense of taste!

Then something crazy happened, as is described in this article on BlockClubChicago.org from January 2019:

One day, after months without taste, Coffman tried something a little different: he fixed himself a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal and topped it with mangos and milk.

Suddenly, he could taste all of the flavors in that bowl. For nearly a year, this trio became his breakfast, lunch and dinner.

After what I could only imagine were very interesting meetings, Goose Island decided to release a beer in honor of Johnny’s cancer battle and his reemerging sense of taste.

They used the flavors found in that crazy bowl of cereal and called it Lost Palate.

Lost Palate is a New England-style IPA brewed with flaked oats, lactose, mangoes, cinnamon sticks and — of course — Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.

 

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A few years back after radiation I completely lost my palate…or should I say almost completely. Everything became trial & error. I tried burgers, pizza, ice cream, pasta…EVERYTHING! One morning when I was ready to give up I decided to make breakfast. I made up a bowl of cinnamon oatmeal with Cinnamon Toast Crunch & mangos(stoner). It was love at first bite & I never looked back. It became my breakfast, lunch & dinner. Lost Palate New England style IPA is a tribute to that time in my life & is now fermenting away in P4! This brew is loaded with flaked oats, lactose, mangos, cinnamon sticks & Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Huge thanks to Quinn, Tanya, Jared & Bjorn for helping this project come to life. What was once lost is now found. Lost Palate release party will be December 20th & 21st(if we don’t drink it all in one day). 💯% of the proceeds will go to the Robert H Lurie Cancer Center here at Northwestern Medicine. Im so very excited about this beer & I hope to share some with all of you at the @gooseislandfulton taproom. 🍺🥭 . 📷 @danadriskill . . #lostpalate #gooseisland #fultonstreet #chicagobeer #neipa #mangos #cinnamontoastcrunch #lactose #hazybeer #jointheparty #breakfastofchampions #realbeer #paparoachblows #craftbeer #mymilkshakebringsalltheboystotheyard #luriecancer #giveback #northwesternmedicine #fuckcancer #keepfighting #medicalcannabis #savedmylife #smokeweedeveryday

A post shared by Jonny Coffman (@jonny_coffman) on Dec 3, 2018 at 8:08am PST

Johnny will join our good friend Boyd Ingumudson from The Law Office Pub and Music Hall in Yorkville Wednesday on the morning show to talk about a charity concert on Friday, March 6. Goose Island is covering the costs of the bands, and all the money brought in will benefit the Ben Eyestone Fund.

The Ben Eyestone Fund is a joint effort between Music Health Alliance and Saint Thomas Health providing diagnostic healthcare access to uninsured or under-insured music industry professionals in Davidson and surrounding counties within Middle Tennessee.  This fund was created to honor the memory of Ben Eyestone who passed away on July 12, 2018.  Here is Ben’s Story.

Go support The Law Office, have some of that delicious Lost Palate from GI, and help a great cause this Friday night in Yorkville!