Collaborative brewing is one of the most popular trends in craft beer today, and with good reason: it’s fun. Yes, a lot of work goes into combining skills and experience to forge a new beer, brew it, package it, and release it to the loyal beer drinkers who follow us. But every brewer we know is really in it for the days spent kicking it around the kettle,with discussions ranging from highly technical to completely absurd, and often revolving about what to eat for lunch.
With of all that shared knowledge, passion, and fun, we’re proud to work with our comrades in beer arms to create something new together. Check out some of our most recent collaborations below, and keep an eye on our social media- especially Instagram- for the latest collaboration news.
Kings County Brewers Collective
Our ties at Kings County Brewers Collective, more commonly known as KCBC, run deep. One of their Brew Commanders, Pete Lengyel, used to brew for us, and our teams have crossed paths many times over beers, metal, and bird watching. The KCBC team came to our brewhouse in spring 2018 to brew a pleasantly irreverent “Julaibock” dubbed Escape Goat, available exclusively in our Tasting Room. Soon after, we headed their way to brew Pinball Pandamonium, an inky and eminently satisfying Baltic porter.
Pinball Pandamonium hit the KCBC taps and can lineup and was a quick hit for dark beer disciples. Throughout it all good times were had, high fives were shared, and at least one bicycle was repaired.
When the team from London Fields Brewery, our sister brewery in the UK, came to visit, we discovered a dangerous common bond: puns. Over the course of a long brew day, punny suggestions filled several pieces of paper taped around the brewhouse, eventually segueing into emails and texts as the beer fermented. At long last, our collaboration black gose was ready, and so was the name: London Gose Dark, a slightly sour ale with plenty of roasted barley and chocolate notes and a gentle hint of salt. The beer is available in our Tasting Room and at select events in the UK until it runs out. Once it does, we’ll be heading to London for the next round of brewing and puns.
Photo: Fifth Hammer Brewing Co./Juren David
If you work in beer in New York City, or just spend a lot of time around it, chances are good that you know Chris Cuzme and Mary Izett of Fifth Hammer (and Cuzett Libations, and Fuhmentaboudit, and so on.) Among the many connections between their team and ours, Cuzme and our Brewer Kevin Early worked together and have stayed in touch as beer friends do. He and Brewmaster Garrett Oliver headed north to Long Island City to brew a few fun saisons, and then things got wild. In addition to Frim Fram Sauce and Oss & Fay, both released on draft and in cans by Fifth Hammer, beer from that day has found its way into cognac barrels, been introduced to Brettanomyces, and more. Keep an eye out for plenty more where these good ideas came from.