Annual brew keeps lines of communication open about mental health

Published 7:00 am Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Kiefer Leutschaft had a magical way of bringing people together.

He also struggled with his mental health, a struggle that ultimately led to his death in October 2021. After Leutschaft took his own life, the people around him said he rarely opened up about his struggles — something they hope to change by bringing awareness to his story to help remove stigma around discussing mental health.

Leutschaft worked at Wild Ride Brewing in Redmond. His former place of employment now hosts the annual Kiefer Magic Birthday Bash to raise money for mental health programs at Rimrock Trails Treatment Services. Part of the funds are raised through a special beer, called Kiefer Magic IPA, brewed only for the occasion. The goal is to encourage people to feel comfortable talking about their struggles.

“Never ever, ever in a million years did my husband and I think our son would take his life. We just thought he was in a rough patch and he’ll work it out,” said Julie Leutschaft, Kiefer’s mother, as she nursed a pint of Kiefer Magic IPA at Wild Ride. “The (beer’s) tagline is, ‘Keep the magic alive. Because we want people to stay alive and not go where Kiefer did.”

This will be the third birthday bash, which will take place at Wild Ride’s brewery in Prineville on April 5 and then in Redmond on April 6. Both events are free to the public and will run from 5-9 p.m. to celebrate Kiefer Leutschaft’s April 1 birthday.

All proceeds are donated to the Kiefer’s Magical Legacy Fund which supports mental health awareness programs, the Rimrock Trails Support Fund, and the Kiefer Leutschaft Memorial Scholarship.

The scholarship will be awarded to local students who choose to go into the behavioral health field, Julie Leutschaft said, to help ease the scarcity of professionals in that field.

Wild Ride will also donate a dollar for every Kiefer Magic IPA sold and the two events will include live music — The Kristi Kinsey Band in Prineville, and Countryfied in Redmond — food, beer, raffles, and Kiefer Magic merchandise will also be available.

Julie Leutschaft said that before her son took his own life, he made sure to leave her something behind for her to remember him by.

“He didn’t leave a suicide note, but he alway wore a Wild Ride beanie, and he left that under my pillow,” Julie Leutschaft said choking back tears. “I still have it. It still smells like him.”

Since her son’s death, Julie Leutschaft, who works in the behavioral health field, has decided to take her son’s tragedy to bring awareness to mental health struggles and to help others find help when they need it.

“Kiefer would alway say, ‘I don’t know what my purpose is, what is my purpose?’ He would always say that. And I think his purpose was ironically found in his death because of this opening up of the discussion (about mental health struggles),” Julie Leutschaft said.

Kiefer Leutschaft graduated with a degree in economics in 2017 and like many college students he would worry about the future. His anxiety caused him to pull away from his friends and family and to have trouble at work. It was also hard for him to open up to those who loved him.

“I don’t think he had the words. He knew something was wrong but he didn’t come to us and say, ‘Mom and dad, I’m really depressed, I’m really anxious. He was just, ‘I got to get a job, I’ve got to make money,’” Julie Leutschaft said.

Julie Leutschaft’s good friend, and someone who knew her son intimately, Michelle Duff, is the community relations manager for Rimrock Trails Treatment Services. She is also dedicated to bringing awareness and opening up the discussion about mental health.

“Still, in our community, there is a stigma about talking about our mental health or about saying “Hey I’m hurting”. We are still in that place where there is the misconception that you should be strong enough to handle your life circumstances and pain, especially for young men ages 19 -24,” Duff said. “They (Kiefer’s parents) wanted to make it cool to talk about mental health, so what better way than to have a party at a brewery that speaks to everybody to say, ‘Hey, it’s normal to not feel ok, and it’s normal to talk about your feelings.”

Brian Mitchell, co-founder of Wild Ride, said the Kiefer Magic Birthday Bash is the brewery’s most important special event and that he expects between three hundred and four hundred people to attend. Mitchell said Kiefer Leutschaft was a dedicated employee who was beloved by his coworkers. But Mitchell said he could also see Kiefer struggled, especially during the pandemic when personal connections were hampered.

“He worked here at a time when we were in a pandemic and one of the challenges we felt Kiefer had was wearing face masks. Not being able to see the engagement with the smile,” Mitchell said. “It’s tough. It was tough for anybody who works in the industry, but I think that was a bigger challenge for Kiefer.”

Cassidy McCombs, the taproom manager at Wild Ride, was Kiefer Leutschaft’s mentor at the brewery. She trained him when he first started working there. McCombs said new hires at the brewery are always made aware of Kiefer Leutschaft and who he was.

“He was a very bright person. He had a great personality. The team loved him. He was very sweet. He was always about beer. He knew so much about it,” McCombs said.

In addition to the birthday bash events, there will also be an exclusive event at the Redmond Wild Ride location called the “Friends and Family Pre-Party,” from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The exclusive event is only for ticket holders who purchase passes to visit with the Leutschaft family for $100. The tickets include appetizers, two pints of Kiefer Magic IPA, a Kiefer tote bag, a 4-pack of Kiefer Magic IPA to go, and a Kiefer Beanie.