Collabs With Other Breweries Are So 2004

Breweries don't have to just collaborate with other breweries.

There was a point in my early days of beer where collaborating with other breweries was looked at as a cornerstone of this industry. More specifically it was looked at as a huge perk of being craft.

“We help each other.”
”We don’t compete with other small breweries.”
”We’re friends, we look out for each other.”

It was infectious. All it took was the first time hearing the story about Avery and Russian River’s Collaboration Not Litigation and you were sold. These two breweries had beers with the same name and they didn’t get lawyers involved. So righteous! So cool! So…old. That was 2004! And, holy shit, that label hurts. It hurts so much.

In the advent of the modern craft beer boom collaborations between breweries we as common as cleaning your taps every 2 weeks. Right? RIGHT!? Small breweries a couple towns over were brewing beers together. Even the bigger boys we’re doing it with Sierra Nevada’s Beer Camp series becoming super popular off collaborations with a number of different breweries all over the country.

Collabs were fun. A couple brewers would get together over beers or start an email chain and try to come up with a beer to where each side can put in their own creative touch. Blending personalities and techniques. But once these beers became popular and more collaborations started to happen we had short cuts. Because…of course we did.

I worked with one brewer who had previously brewed at a couple darlings of the hype beer world. He told me that collabs at those places typically involved an out of town brewer friend saying “Hey, I’m going to be in town. Let’s collab.” Then when the out-of-towner arrives they walk through the brewery and pick out a hazy, sour or imperial stout already in a fermenter and that’s that. Take your cool guy picture posing in front of the grunts at the brewhouse and head into the taproom for beers and to come up with a name and label art. Bonus points if you appropriate someone’s culture and steal another company’s intellectual property.

LAME!! That isn’t collaboration. There was no input into coming up with a recipe. They just picked an already hot style that’s in a tank and just go with it. It’s almost like collaborating became just drinking beers with people and drunkenly coming up with a name and label art. The beer is secondary. Maybe even further down than second.

So all collaborations are dumb right? Well, not really. This is where I think part of the industry is making a pivot that really reinvigorates the concept.

When I started working at a brewery in Pennsylvania I was blown away by the amount of collaborating we did there but not with other breweries. Actually, we didn’t make a single collaboration with another brewery in my time there. Instead we collaborated with other local businesses and charities. We made a beer for the historical society for landmark in our county. We brewed beers with restaurants. We collaborated with a local apple orchard. We even worked with our local library branch. This is collaboration. This is being a part of your community.

Over the last few years I’ve been seeing more and more breweries branching out to work with local businesses and even large businesses with roots in the brewery’s hometown that have nothing to do with beer. Jumping to my mind is Chicago’s Half Acre and Morton Salt making a beer together a couple years ago. Just the other week my hometown of Bensalem’s own Rita’s announced a series of collaborations with nearby Neshaminy Creek Brewing to make different beers with Rita’s water ice flavors as the inspiration. Their first one, mango, kicked off with a big release party and a boat load of sales.

It’s this sort of collaboration that I would like to see our industry taking bigger steps for. No matter the size of the brewery and other business it’s these sorts of partnerships that provide a real sense of community to its locals that seems damn near untouchable. Put your societal aspect aside and it’s just smart business sense too. Working with other companies in your community opens the eyes of a whole new audience that could be right down the street from you and not even know you exist. That collab with a brewery across the country isn’t really going to get a whole lot of extra asses in your seats or six packs in their hands.

Beer is stagnant. It lost drinkers to seltzer. Now it’s losing drinkers to canned cocktails and just spirits in general. I can almost guarantee you that you aren’t going to win customers with just another hazy can you made with your “homies”—chills—from New York. Why should I care? What makes this special? Collabs between breweries seems to only be gratifying to the breweries who get to hangout with each other. Nothing about two breweries drinking beer with each other to make a beer style that I can buy almost anywhere at any time makes me feel included or that I absolutely must buy that beer.

Showing a care for those in your neighborhood and just generally giving a fuck about your neighborhood will win you people.

Look, I’m not saying this is the key to world domination. It’s not. You want to do that then you have to fuck over those less privileged or less fortunate than you. What I am saying is that you could probably be a successful small brewery just by listening to and working with your locals. People care about being genuine and they will follow you forever if you really try to be one of them.

I’d Have a Beer

New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger family of brands is a force in the market. Their Imperial IPA is one of the best selling craft beers in the country. It’s 9% ABV and selling like the hottest hotcakes that ever came off a griddle! Nuts.

I’ve enjoyed a number of the Voodoo Ranger offerings when I’ve had them. It’s pretty easy to see why they sell so well. Great tastes and excellent branding and marketing. Like, tippy top tier. When I went to the store the other day I finally decided to jump on trying one of the variants I hadn’t had yet, Fruit Force. This 9.5% monster is listed as an fruit punch inspired Imperial IPA. Well LFG boys!

My first sip immediately teleports me back to a time I remember walking along a canal with friends drinking a quart of St Ides Special Brew. Except that malt liquor was 6%. But don’t let the high ABV of Fruit Force fool you. This might be one of the most deceptive high octane beers I have ever had. Like, all-time deceptive. I like this beer and that scares me.

I began to contemplate my place in this universe. Am I doing the work of good or evil? Am I just wasting time and space with this little newsletter? I wonder what Richard Grieco is doing right now. You know, the deep stuff. Then one of my toddlers threw a board book about Elmo on my lap and I snapped back to reality.

I’m not saying that Voodoo Ranger Fruit Force will make you think about the macro things of our world but I’m also not NOT saying that.

This is a Photo

Saint Augustine, FL

Tree canopies over streets are the best. This one from right outside the Fountain of Youth in Saint Augustine is a fantastic one. Enjoy.

If you really like it you can buy a print. Sizes start around $17.

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No, I won’t talk about the very likely fake far-right beer. Fuck that shit. Instead, follow me on Twitter or Instagram. Listen to me talk about beer on my podcast, United We Drink.