Collaborative Brewing: A Growing Trend in the Craft Beer Industry, Part 3

Perhaps the most known in Seattle....New Belgium's & Elysian's Trip Series

Here, in the third installment of the collaborative brewing article, we present a bit of a list of some of the most notable collaboration projects of the past, present and future.

This write up would be remiss to not mention the prolific Danish brewer with no brewery, Mikkel Borg Bjergso of Mikkeller.  If brewing beer at someone else’s brewery were criteria enough to evoke the collaboration moniker, every Mikkeller beer to hit the shelves would be just that.  Even still, Mikkel has, over the years, joined forces with Stone, Brew Dog, Three Floyds, Struise, Alesmith, Nogne O, and others to make some really exciting beers.

A collaboration that us Seattleites are very familiar with is that of Elysian Brewing Co. and New Belgium Brewing Co. The ‘Trip’ series allows Elysian to brew with more volume on the New Belgium system and New Belgium to brew more experimental, small batches on the Elysian system.  Lucky for us, these beers are only available on draft in the Northwest.

The first brew was Trippel (not triple) IPA, a Belgian-inspired Indian Pale Ale.  Trip II was a unique hoppy Belgian Golden Ale spiced with lemongrass and grains of paradise.  Trip III was a sour brown ale and Trip IV, a Finnish style sahti brewed with juniper.  Beer Blotter will be on the edge of their seats in anticipation of each subsequent release.

The darlings of the Florida scene, Cigar City Brewing, just may be sending a bit of their art in Seattle’s direction when they collaborate with The Bruery in what will be the most anticipated collaboration release for yours truly.  Keep your eyes peeled in July or August of this year.

Terrapin Beer Co. of Athens, GA and Left Hand Brewing of Longmont, CO have actually decided to make a somewhat regular go at collaborating together with the ‘Midnight Project’ series.  Brew One in 2008 produced Terra-Rye’zd, a black rye lager.  Last year’s Brew Two saw Depth Charge, an espresso milk stout.  Sadly, WA is not amongst the 6 states that receive these beers, but if you are in TN, NC, SC, GA, FL or CO, we will gladly offer you our address and some packaging materials.

Left Hand Brewing and Terrapin Brewing are making their collab a regular item

Quite possibly the biggest (in terms of brewery size) collaboration yet sees Boston Beer Co. and Weihenstephan join forces.  The largest American craft brewery and the oldest brewery in the world, that’s pretty monumental!  The uncharacterized style will come at the intersection of brewing innovation and the old German purity law, the Reinheitsgebot.   According to Realbeer.com, “their yet-to-be-named beer will be released in both the United States and Germany next spring in cork-finished bottles. Effervescent and Champagne-like beer it will weigh in at more than 10 percent alcohol by volume.”

Another fairly sizeable collaborative effort came at the hands of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. These two have been quite active lately, in fact, on the collaborative front.  Life and Limb came when Sam Calagione and Ken Grossman, two monumental names in American craft brewing, decided to cook up a beer together after sharing a pint or two at the Craft Brewer’s Conference.  Their concoction ended up being a 10% strong ale brewed with maple syrup, fermented with a combination of both breweries house yeast strains and naturally carbonated with birch syrup.  Limb and Life was also created in this session, a small beer made from the second runnings of Life and Limb.

Boulevard Brewing Co. of Kansas City, MO just recently made its first mark on the collaboration scene with a very unlikely cohort, the Belgian Trappist brewery Orval.  Using an old recipe that Orval brewmaster Jean-Marie Rock had, an Imperial Pilsner was made using only one kind of malt, Saaz hops, water, and a lager yeast.  Beer Blotter has never wanted to try a pilsner so bad.  This beer is available in Seattle so look for it, we will be.

The final collaboration to be discussed in this round will be another America-meets-Belgium pairing that, well…I’m sure you can all imagine just how much that concept gets our blood pumping.  Green Flash Brewing Co. of San Diego County and Brasserie St. Feuillien of Le Roeulx, Belgium have teamed up to make Bière De L’Amitié, or “Beer of Friendship”.  Beernews.org reports that this 9.5% blonde Belgian strong ale will be released in June of 2010.  Rye and wheat malts were used, along with Amarillo hops, St. Feuillien’s yeast strain, “secret” spices, and the whole mess was dry hopped with Amarillo.  Sounds stupid good.

Any thoughts on collaborations? Know any good ones we missed? Join the conversation with a comment.