Collaborations

Posted in Burial Beer Co, Don't Miss This, Other Half Brewing

Burial Beer Prismatic Eye, a collab with Other Half (August 6th)

Burial Beer Prismatic Eye, a collaboration with New York’s Other Half, releases August 6th.

Folks from Other Half Brewing were in Asheville, North Carolina last week for Wicked Weed’s Funk Invitational. On the way out of town, the met up with Burial Beer.

The result – an imperial IPA, brewed with North Carolina six-row barley, plus Citra, Summer and Centennial hops. The duo used Burial Beer’s house yeast for fermentation.

Our type of people. Our type of ritual. NC-grown six-row grain under a bouquet of Citra, Summer, and Centennial hops, fermented with our house yeast blend.

Burial Beer Prismatic Eye will be available in 16 ounce cans at the brewery in Asheville.

Style: Imperial IPA
Availability: 16oz Cans
Release: 8/6/16

8.5% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Jolly-Pumpkin, Don't Miss This, Jester King Brewery

Jester King Space Waves, a dream collab with Jolly Pumpkin

Jester King Space Waves, a new collaboration with Dexter, Michigan’s Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, debuts this week.

Getting immediately down to business – the beer. Back in April, Jolly Pumpkin brewed a farmhouse ale brewed with Texas wheat and lime salt, that was ultimately blended with Jester King Montmorency vs. Balafon which was brewed with cherries.

The farmhouse ale features a large addition of hops in the boil in order to keep the bacteria and house mixed culture scaled back pending the 12 to 1 blend of Montmorency. The final blend was bottled on May 31st, and allowed to naturally re-ferment in bottles.

Jester King really dotes on this collaboration, as Jolly Pumpkin has been a strong influence on the Austin, Texas brewery since their inception.

Even appearing in the same sentence as Jolly Pumpkin, let alone collaborating with them, is a surreal experience for which we are extremely grateful. I’m not shy at all to say that Jolly Pumpkin is Jester King’s greatest influence. – Jeffery Stuffings, Founder

Jester King Space Waves is a 750ml bottle release on August 5th. Limited to 3,000 bottles with no distribution.

Style: American Wild Ale (w/ Lime Salt, Cherries. Partially Oak Aged.)
Availability: 750m Bottles.
Debut: 8/5/16

5.6% ABV, 41 IBUs

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Sierra Nevada, Don't Miss This

Spotlight: Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest 2016, with Mahrs Brau

In 2015, Sierra Nevada bottled their Oktoberfest for the first time. While the brewery has released editions of this style in the past, the bottled release was a collaboration with Brauhaus Riegele from Augsburg, Germany. Each year, Sierra will collaborate with a different German brewery.

Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest 2016 is a collaboration brew with Bamberg, Germany’s Mahrs Brau. While Sierra Nevada has 35 years of commercial brewing under their belt, Mahrs Brau boasts a few more. The family-owned brewery was founded in 1670.

“We’re excited to be working together with Mahrs Bräu,” said Ken Grossman, “We have so much in common with them in the way we approach brewing, and the way we run our businesses. We’re both independent, family-owned breweries with a respect for tradition, yet we’re not handcuffed by it. We’re not afraid to innovate and to change things up. We both care deeply about the environment, and work to make our respective beers with a mindful eye on how that impacts the world around us.”

This year’s edition (if we recall correctly) is lighter in both body and color when compared to last year’s edition. Flavor is very malt forward, with a touch of straw and sweet malt. A very crisp, and very clean beer. Sierra Nevada’s attention to absolute quality meets hundreds of years of Mahrs Brau craft.

Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest 2016 is hitting shelves in 12 ounce bottles and draft nationally. Reminder, this year is different from last year’s release.

Style: Oktoberfest
Hops: German Magnum, Palisade, Saphir, Crystal, German Record
Malts: 2-Row Pale, Steffi Pilsner, Munich, Vienna

Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft
Release: August, 2016

6% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Creature Comforts

Creature Comforts Mutualism, a collab with Jester King debuts

Creature Comforts Mutualism, a collaboration with Austin, Texas based Jester King Brewery releases on July 14th.

Both breweries experiment with wild and sour cultures, making this collaboration a no-brainer. This “Southern style” collaboration features a blend of both house cultures that really make each brewery unique.

The base beer is a pilsner, brewed with wheat and grits from Dayspring Farms (you’ll know from Dayspring) whose secondary fermentation uses the culture blend.

Mutualism was born from a shared vision with our friends at Jester King Brewery of a forgotten cask, that was once a pilsner, but had transformed due to fermentation and time. To craft this beer, we made a pilsner using local wheat and grits from Dayspring Farms, and put it through a secondary fermentation with a  blend of both our house-mixed cultures. The result truly is a symbiosis of friendship, conversation, and bringing the best out of each other’s work. This is Mutualism. Enjoy.

Athens based illustrator (and incidentally tour staff member) Melissa Merrill created the artwork for this release.

Creature Comforts Mutualism is a 750 milliliter bottle offering, available at the brewery in Athens, Georgia only.

Style: American Wild Ale (w/ Grits)
Availabilty: 750ml Bottles
Release: 7/14/16

5.5% ABV

Ed Note: Reader questions submitted to Beer Street Journal unfortunately not be answered. Creature Comforts declined to speak about the collab. Per one brewer- “We made a beer with our friends. It is what it is.” -R.R.

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Half Acre Brewing, Don't Miss This, Other Half Brewing

Half Acre Rainbow Never Ends, an Other Half collab

Half Acre Rainbow Never Ends, a collaboration with New York’s Other Half Brewing, releases this month.

Earlier this year, Half Acre started distributing (in limited quantities) to New York City. One of the Chicago based brewery’s close friends in the Big Apple is   Other Half. If know know anything about beer at all, that means – collaboration.

Half Acre Rainbow Never Ends is an imperial IPA dubbed “a frankenstein of empiricism”. Allow us to explain. The hoppy dankness of this IPA comes form Idaho 7, Equinox, and Citra hops. The malt bill features oats, rice syrup soilds; fermented with a blend of American ale yeast and German kolsch yeast.

Chicago folks will get a shot of this beer on July 15th in 22 ounce bottles and draft. The New York release will be announced shortly.

Style: Imperial IPA
Hops: Idaho 7, Citra, Equinox
Malts: Oats, Rice Syrup

Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft
Debut: 7/15/16

8.5% ABV

Image: Half Acre Beer

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Heavy Seas, Headlines, Terrapin Beer Company

Heavy Seas Partner Ships Rye Wit, a collaboration with Terrapin

Heavy Seas Partner Ships Rye Wit, a collaboration with Athens, Georgia based Terrapin Beer Co. is coming this August.

First off, let me tell you Terrapin’s co-founder and brewmaster “Spike” Bucowski loves brewing with rye. Examples – Terrapin Rye Pale, Terrapin Rye Cubed, even the Terrapin/Left Hand Terra-ryezd from 2009. Don’t be surprised that this new collaboration has rye in it.

Heavy Seas Partner Ships Rye Wit is actually a barrel-aged rye wit, aged in white wine barrels for sixteen weeks. The added wine nuance to this beer is fairly unique for the style.

With aromas of light fruit, spice, and citrus, balanced by a spicy malt backbone, the third installment in the Partner Ships series is sure to delight the senses.

Look for Heavy Seas Partner Ships Rye Wit to hit shelves in August in 22 ounce bottles and draft for a limited time.

Style: Rye Beer/Witbier (Wine Barrel Aged)
Hops: Cascade, Amarillo
Malts: 2-Row, Wheat, Rye, Biscuit

Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft
Debut: August, 2016

6% ABV, 20 IBUs

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Half Acre Brewing, Seasonal Return, Short's Brewing

Half Acre Freedom of ’78 makes a July return

Half Acre Freedom of ’78 was brought out of retirement last year, after the recipe took 5 years off.

The beer – originally brewed at Short’s Brewing in Michigan, is an India pale ale, brewed with guava. Incidentally, Half Acre touts this beer as “outlandish and crushable, channeling the effect of Ween on the brain.”

Freedom’s label depicts the brewery family crowded a porch in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. The house has a very special brewery history:

Our owner and his wife lived there first, then our head brewer and the woman who would become his wife, then another brewer and his wife and now a couple that met at Half Acre and got married. When they move out, someone else will sign the lease and continue the custom, making sure to preserve the Half Acre lineage.

Half Acre Freedom of ’78 is now available on draft and in 22 ounce bottles.

Style: IPA (w/ Guava)
Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft. Limited release.
Latest Return: 7/1/16

7% ABV

by Reid Ramsay