The same beer being produced at multiple locations was once only the purview of Big Beer. But distribution and breaking into a market is becoming harder and harder. The first due to a non-level playing field in regards to smaller distributors and the latter due to the sheer number of breweries out there.
And the way to break into a highly populated locale like California or a brewery heavy area like Portland or Denver might be extending beyond just collaborating with a brewery in either of those cities.
Cigar City Brewing and Perrin Brewing Company are both under the umbrella Corp with Oskar Blues leading to a functional way to see how to lightly broach a market. Perrin will be brewing Jai Alai IPA from Cigar City of Florida. In Michigan.
Obviously, some connection would be needed. A local L.A. brewery isn’t going to send a recipe and a brewer to Ohio, for example, and hope for the best. But as breweries form around a stable nucleus, the recipe becomes less sacrosanct and in both terms of creativity and replication.
I can imagine a time where Boulevard beers are on tap at Firestone and not because kegs drove all the way to Paso Robles from St. Louis.