Topic Archives: Collaborations
Yuengling Hershey’s Chocolate Porter is chocolate perfection
A year ago, two famous Pennsylvania companies – Yuengling and Hershey’s Chocolate announced a one of a kind beer collaboration – Yuengling Hershey’s Chocolate Porter. Much to the chagrin of fans of either, it was limited to draft-only, in a handful of locations.
Because 2020 needed good news, this month Yuengling unveiled bottles, destined for wide distribution.
The base beer is Yuengling’s nearly 200-year-old Porter recipe, plus “the world-famous taste of Hershey’s chocolate. Sadly for yet another year we still don’t have answers on the brewing process, but this year – we finally tasted it.
Once you crack open a bottle of Hershey’s Porter, you’re hit with the undeniable smell of Hershey’s chocolate. If you’ve ever toured the factory, or in my case – grew up going to Hershey Park on marching band trips, you’ll never forget that sweet and unique smell. (Yes.. marching band. Keep reading.)
The flavor is equally as real and rich as the smell. The roasty flavor of Yuengling Porter (one of the two beers first introduced by the brewery in 1829) blends beautifully with the Hershey Chocolate flavor. The success of this beer lies in the instantly addictive burst of Hershey’s aroma and flavor. It’s really uncanny.
Chocolate beers in the brewing world are abundant, so when one stands out like this, it’s a gift. Yuengling Porter and Hershey’s are equal partners in flavor. For that reason, it’s a collaboration that truly works.
Yuengling Hershey’s Chocolate Porter is a limited release in 12-ounce bottles and draft.
Style: Porter (w/ Chocolate.)
Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft. Limited Release.
Debut: Mid October 2019
Bottling: October 2020
4.7% ABV
Image: Beer Street Journal
Oskar Blues debuts ‘Mustard Beer’ featuring 150 pounds of French’s
We wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t know that today, August 1st, is National Mustard Day. There’s a “day” for everything. While you are smothering everything in spicy yellow goodness, there’s a craft beer to pair with it. Oskar Blues Mustard Beer.
It’s craft beer, so you know we aren’t kidding. Oskar Blues partnered with French’s on the collaboration, a tropical wheat beer infused with the yellow stuff. 150 pounds of it to be exact. The result is a wheat beer with a yellowish tinge, boasting flavors of lime, lemon, tangerine, and passion fruit to complement the spice and zip added by the mustard.
Last year French’s made a mustard flavor ice cream for the occasion. We never got to try it, but some folks on social media melted down over its mear existence. (One person even called it a slight against God. That might be a little much.)
Oskar Blues Mustard Beer was available to ship on CraftShack.com, but it sold out pretty much immediately.
Style: Wheat Beer (w/ French’s Mustard)
Availability: 12oz Cans. Limited Release.
Debut: 8/1/20
5.2% ABV
Update: Sold out. Everywhere. Next stop, ketchup day.
8th Wonder Viet-Irish Coffee market the brewery’s 1st bottle release
8th Wonder Viet-Irish Coffee debuts at the Houston, Texas brewery this weekend.
This first bottle release by 8th Wonder is indeed a big one, especially since the brewery calls this beer Imperial Rocket Fuel. Viet-Irish Coffee is based on year-round Rocket Fuel, a 4.6% alcohol robust porter brewed with Greenway Coffee and milk sugar.
This imperial edition features the same locally roasted Greenway Coffee and aged in Jameson Whiskey barrels.
8th Wonder Viet-Irish Coffee will be available in 22-ounce bottles and draft when the brewery opens on Saturday, January 25th.
Style: Imperial Milk Porter (w/ Coffee. Barrel Aged. Whiskey.)
Availability: 22oz Bottles. Brewery Release.
Debut: 1/25/20
10.2% ABV
Image: 8th Wonder
Bell’s Brewery is releasing ‘Goin’ Dark’ to honor veterans & active military
Bell’s Brewery is honoring veterans and active service military with a special beer release for Veteran’s Day. Bell’s Goin’ Dark debuts at the brewery’s Eccentric Cafe on November 11th.
Goin’ Dark is a coffee milk stout brewed with bourbon barrel-aged coffee beans. This beer was visualized, conceived, brewed and packaged by a team of 20 Bell’s employees that served in the military or currently enlisted or have families actively serving.
“It’s an honor to recognize the men and women in our military as well as their families and extend that celebration to those who make that sacrifice.” – Larry Bell, Founder & President
Additionally, Bell’s is working with Section Collection, a nonprofit that provides support for veterans in need.
Bell’s Goin’ Dark will be available exclusively at the Eccentric Cafe on November 11th, in 12-ounce bottles and draft.
Style: Milk Stout (w/ Coffee.)
Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft. Brewery Release.
Debut: 11/11/19
6.3% ABV
Stone Brewing’s collaborates with Jägermeister; ships to select markets
Arrogant Bastard Jägermeister Ale is headed out to select markets now, a Germany brewed special release for the U.S.
A staple in nearly every bar in America – Jägermeister. The herbal liquor is made with 56 different herbs and takes more than a year to produce. Jäger’s headquarters is in Wolfenbuttel, Germany, nearby Stone’s Berlin brewery that they sold this year. The last collaboration from Stone Berlin is debuting this month- Arrogant Bastard Jagermeister Ale.
The base beer is Arrogant Bastard Ale, an American strong ale that is the flagship beer of Stone’s Arrogant Consortia, the cocky brewing subset of Stone Brewing. According to Lizzie Younkin, public relations manager for the brewery, the beer was brewed after the sale by Stone’s brewers that were hired by Brewdog as they took over the Bern facility. A few senior brewers from Stone’s Escondido brewery also traveled to Berlin to oversee the final pieces of this collaboration.
Jagermeister Arrogant Bastard Ale is brewed with similar spices as the digestif counterpart according to Stone. While the brewery hasn’t disclosed which spices, some of the most notable in Jager are anise, poppy seeds, citrus peels, juniper berries, licorice, and ginseng.
Neither beverage has now, or ever contained deer blood. Sorry internet theorists.
Jagermeister Arrogant Bastard Ale is headed to select markets across the U.S. in October, including California, Colorado, D.C., Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennesee, and Washington.
Style: American Strong Ale (w/ Various spices.)
Availability: 750ml Bottles, Corked & Caged. Limited Release.
Debut: October 2019
8.5% ABV
White Castle will soon sell their own branded house beer
The next time Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, they might be able to snag a pint of White Castle Beer as well. The famous burger chain is teaming up with Weyerbacher Brewing on the new burger paired beer.
According to Weyerbacher, early pilot batches were a Kolsch, leading us to believe the launch beer will resemble the same style.
The yet-to-be-named beer is slated to be on tap at White Castle’s nearly 400 restaurants in 13-states, as well as in package at grocery stores where White Castle frozen products are sold. Additionally, states that have frozen White Castle at retail will sell the beer, bringing full distribution area to exceed the 13 states where their restaurants are found.
A spokesperson for White Castle said a timeline for the White Castle beer release has not been set. Distribution of the burger beer will be handled by Weyerbacher Brewing’s distributors.
A few other major restaurant chains have gone into the branded beer business. Last fall, IHOP brewed a very limited release beer with Keegan Ales, brewed with their famed pancake batter. I
In December, Taco Bell announced that Big City Bell, a pilsner brewed with Anheuser-Busch’s Blue Point Brewing, would be available at their New York City’s new Cantina locations.
Most recently, Hershey’s Chocolate partnered with America’s oldest brewery, Yuengling, to create Yuengling Hershey’s Chocolate Porter hitting select taps in October.
More to follow…
A Super Bowl champion, Champion Brewing, & helping others get clean water
Champion Brewing teams up with Chris Long, the Chris Long Foundation, and Waterboys.Org.
It’s so easy to take clean water for granted. Clean water is always ready to flow from your sink with minimal effort. Everyday you pass at least one if not multiple water fountains with an unlimited supply. Besides absolutely necessary for human survival, water makes up over 90% of that after work beer you’ve been thinking about since the alarm went off this morning.
For most of us in the U.S., clean water is everywhere you look. Unfortunately, not everyone in the world is that lucky.
More than 844 million people around the world don’t have basic clean water access. That’s more than twice the population of the United States. As tragic as this is, there is a way you can help some of those less fortunate, and it very seriously involves drinking beer.
This is the story of Champion Brewing’s Waterboys IPA. It began 6 years ago with 2x Super Bowl Champion Chris Long, climbing the tallest mountain in Africa.
Before his Lombardi Trophy wins with the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles, you found Long playing for the Saint Louis Rams. For Chris, the desire to help others meant doing something “out of the box,” but he didn’t honestly know what that entailed. Sometimes life just reveals that on its own.
In the winter 2013, Long convinced Rams teammate James Hall to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. During the climb and time in Tanzania, both were stuck by the beauty and resiliency of the country. While celebrating the climb in a his hotel bar, Long bumped into Joe Buck and Doug Pitt (Brad Pitt’s brother). Pitt was in town as a Goodwill Ambassador building a sustainable water well. Buck was there assisting Pitt. That evening they spoke about the country’s scarcity of clean drinking water.
After such an amazing experience, Long didn’t want to simply come home and have that experience there and do nothing for the country. A little internet research yielded World Serve International (WSI), an organization that has been building clean water wells in Africa for decades. WSI does all the ground work for locating clean water and digging the wells. Water is indispensable to living creatures and this country needed more access to it. Long found his calling off the field.
In May 2015 Chris launched the Chris Long Foundation to help raise money for the Waterboys.org Initiative, dedicated to raising money to dig those all-important water wells.
Instead of simply writing a check in support, Long opted to engage players around the league to raise both awareness and involvement. Leading up to the 2015 Foundation launch, the goal was to fund and dig 32 wells, each representing the 32 NFL teams. That goal was finally achieved in February 2018.
As of today, the Long Foundation with the support of numerous pro players, have funded 62 water wells, with a long term goal of building enough wells to serve 1 million people (roughly 133 wells).
Your ability to help is just a 6-pack or a pint away.
Long and his wife Megan O’Malley were married in Champion’s hometown in 2013. Nearby was Hunter Smith, founder of Champion Brewing in Charlottesville, Virginia and incidentally a New England Patriots fan. When Nicole Woodie with the Chris Long Foundation reached out to Hunter about a beer with Waterboys in mind, she had no idea Smith was had already been following Chris Long’s career and knew of the foundation. According to Hunter, a collaboration like this was a no brainer. “Brew a beer with Chris Long, putting the importance of clean water in focus, with part of the proceeds Waterboys.org. I couldn’t be more excited,” he said.
Chris Long is no stranger to beer. We’re told Sierra Nevada Torpedo is frequently found in his fridge and was the inspiration for Champion Waterboys IPA.
This American IPA sis build on Vienna and Munich malts, with hop-stars Summit, Mosaic, Huell Melon, Simcoe (plus some experimental varieties in the dry-hop). The goal was to create an IPA that was both tropical and juicy yet approachable. Think of it falling somewhere between a West Coast IPA and the new juicy, hazy beers.
Champion Brewing Waterboys IPA is hitting shelves and taps now for a limited time in 12-ounce cans and draft across the brewery’s entire distribution footprint.
Yeah, there are 8,000 breweries out there now, with many making some great beer choices. Champion Brewing and Chris Long combined a passion for hops and helping people in one place. All you have to do is pour.
Count your blessings and drink in good health.
Style: IPA
Hops: Mosaic, Huell Melon, Summit, Simcoe
Malts: Vienna, Munich
Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft. Aug-Oct
Debut: August 2019
7% ABV
