Maybe this collaboration will mark a comeback of the now, gasp, traditional San Diego / West Coast IPA?
If not, it shows that both of these breweries are still kicking and scratching for our hop attention.
The Breakside of Maui
If you had told me that Breakside and Maui Brewing were to collaborate, I would have guessed some fruit sour of some sort using fruits from both states. I certainly would not have guessed a Belgian Pale Ale.
I hope it comes SoCal way because there are not enough Belgian hoppy beers being done.
FW Invitational – 1 Week Out
Now, let’s talk about this year’s collaboration beer for the fest….
This year’s beer started at the festival, last year as Creature Comforts and Firestone Walker came together to brew up what would become Mother’s Milk, a barrel-aged imperial milk porter.
Mother’s Milk is a bigger beer at 11.6% ABV. It was “aged for nearly a year in rye whiskey barrels inherited from a premium spirits producer” with added oats, lactose sugar and sea salt.
12-ounce bottles ($10.99) will also be available for a limited time at all Firestone Walker locations starting on June 2. A mere 300 cases (12 x 12-oz bottles) were produced.
We Are Golden
As Fallon and Timberlake would say, Heading on down to LagerVille….
I have previously posted about this festival and now a collaborative beer is added to the goodies!
Nearby Enegren Brewing has taken their Germanic touch to Figueroa Mountain for a new lager that will show up on 5 19.
Would Zlatan drink it?
New Belgium is kicking a World Cup collaboration beer into cans in advance of the U.S. absent soccer tournament.
The Colorado brewery has teamed up Adnams (England), Baird (Japan), Bodebrown (Brazil), Devil’s Peak (South Africa) and Primus (Mexico) to create an easy drinking kolsch that includes chamomile (which apparently is the national flower of Russia) and lemongrass, because you can’t add artificial turf to a beer.
The other five breweries will brew and distribute their version of Bicycle Kick in their respective markets. You might have to do some serious traveling to collect them all.
Big Cats
Featured Review – Brought A Jacket Didn’t Need It from Mumford
Up there with the great beer names that I have run across is the new session IPA collaboration from DTLAs Mumford Brewing and Cerebral Brewing.
Definite hazy aroma, almost like lupulin powder (if that was used). Has that hazy scrape on the tongue. Finishes a bit watery though so that scrape isn’t full. The can art and design s really cool. The beer itself looks like grapefruit juice. Dank bitterness taste lingers for awhile. First time I have seen Enigma hop broadcast as a selling point. Grassy more than citrus.
A Joyful Collab
Portland meets Bend and a “joyful” pale ale is the result. Deschutes will be distributing Oh Be Joyful Pale Ale, their team-up with Ecliptic Brewing of Portland.
Let’s see if this collab reaches southward to us.
Pears and Paw Paws
Modest Proposal – Collaboration Fest
I know that I alternately bemoan the amount of festivals and then call for more. But what I call for are specific and niche festivals.
Pilsner Fest, Fruit Beer Fest and others are in Portland. And another good idea that I think would work here in Los Angeles would be a Collaboration Fest.
The Colorado Brewers Guild has such a festival where every beer has at least one foot in their Guild. And it ticks a lot of boxes for me….the most important being….
One Place Puts hard to get / can’t get breweries in one place as well as the beers in one place. With a resurgence in collaborations, one would have to drive from place to place to place to keep up. Putting them together, even for just one yearly event would be great.
Attach the word “rare” to it and the Whale Hunters would buy tickets. Perhaps organize by style or state where the “other” collaborator is from.