What's your take on beer collaborations?

Agree with what just about everyone else is saying, for the most part collaborations don't live up to the hype. Best collaboration beers I can remember having that lived up to the expectation (for me atleast ) would have to be Raining Threes and Double Dribble which was a Other Half / The Answer collab. Was also pretty impressed with the Trillium / Veil collabs Adult Human and Human Adult.

 

Other Half did some massive re-release of a bunch of collab. beers a couple of weeks ago around the Super Bowl I think - a friend of mine lined up at 4:30am. In that crap weather up there! I don't feel like there's that kind of dedication out here, maybe at a couple of places in SoCal.

 

One collaboration I really enjoy is the Franciscan Well Brewery and Jameson. The Jameson Caskmates stout edition is an awesome bang for the buck Irish Whiskey!

 

I generally like collaborations but sometimes they are frustrating. Like when two kick ass breweries that are known for making barrel aged stouts get together and instead of making something cool they are known for they make a red ale.

 

They always sound amazing, especially when it's two of your favorite breweries, but they usually disappoint.

 

I take it case by case. I have had some that just stunk and others not so bad. So for me I hold judgement till I taste the end product. Are they fun, sure but to me they are more a gimmick or breweries having some fun.

 

i cant think of any collaboration beers that i'd put among the best i ever had but it seems like the brewers have a lot of fun with it. it reminds me of how everybody i know has a podcast and they all appears as guests on each others podcasts.

 

Agree with most. What I'd love to see is a mixed sixer of a collaboration where 3 are from one and 3 from the other. That is under the premise that both are brewing the 'same' beer in their respective locations. Case in point is the SN Oktoberfest and some others.

I'd guess that both breweries woild have to have the same distro footprint?

 

I’ve been disappointed in most of the collabs I’ve tried over the years, but have to commend Cigar City for the most recent round 9 of El Catador club beers, which were all collabs. Had a chance to sample all of them, and they were all very good to excellent.

 

Some can be good, some can be not so good, but generally I'd vote "overrated" if that were a selection.

 

Maybe you've lost me, but that isn't a "case in point." The Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest is produced by Sierra Nevada. Maybe you're just saying that's what you'd like to see happen to that beer and I'm just dense. It would be far more complicated than just an issue of distribution footprint. The brewery that puts out a collaboration is producing, packaging, and selling that beer. It's their product.

 

Agree with the general consensus mostly just ok / decent beers in collabs but SN does a step better.

Then last night out of nowhere I had a Veil/Omnipolo collab called Tefnut. Was an 11% Rasberry Gose. This beer was amazing...was like a New Glarus fruit beer on steroids yet has all the same great attributes (and litterally drinks like a <5% fruit beer as well). Not only the best collab I've ever had but also one of the best beers all around I've ever had. And just as this post was rolling along, something comes out of left field like this beer (for me anyway).

 

If nothing else it produces camaraderie among the craft brewers-

 

Voted not so good. I've had a fair amount of them. But maybe I'm just having bad luck. The worst Revision and Fieldwork beers I've had were collabs, and oddly they were both collabs with the same brewery, - it's in Brazil, Novo something.

 

Couldn't vote as I don't feel there are any fair generalizations to be made - as with most beers, I take them on a case-by-case basis.

 

Well, my post was clear that I was talking about a collaboration beer that was brewed by both in their respective locations. A collaboration between "X" and "Y" where X brews 100% of the product with participation from Y in some way, shape or form may be the most common flavor. To be honest, I'm not even sure the two-party-two-breweries is even done, but sure sounds interesting. Thanks for your comments!

 

I guess maybe the more interesting question would be "which collaborations have resulted in a beer than ended up substantially being better than anything from an existing brewers past portfolio of beers?" The one I can think of that clearly put a brewer on the map was the Stillwater/Westbrook collab "Gose Gone WIld". Westbrook makes alot of great beers from their Gose, Mexican Cakes etc, but this collab really put Stillwater on the map (and amongst their beers with substantial ratings, its still the highest rated beer in their portfolio).

 

For the most part, collaborations don't exist.

They're about 99% marketing. In most cases Brewery X will visit Brewery A to "collaborate". But when you think about it, at best they're just making wort together, typically using Brewery A's equipment, ingredients and labor. Over the next few weeks Brewery A will condition/dry hop/lager/ferment/package/whatever the beer; again using their ingredients, equipment and labor. And maybe the recipe was a collaborative effort, but Brewery A certainly knows more about their water chemistry and tank geometry and all of the 20,000 other factors that go into the final product aside from what hops/grain/yeast to use, so how much "collaboration" when Brewery X can't actually constructively contribute?

At best most collaborations are excuses for brewers or brewery owners who are friends to hang out while their shift brewers make a beer that will have both of their names on it. At worst they're a cheap marketing ploy to get you to line up to buy just another Brewery A beer, because it has Brewery X's name on it too.

But, hey! Tickers still get to check them in and say "oh I can really taste Other Half's influence on this Trillium collab" when in reality it was all basically just a ruse for an Instagram post.

 

"which collaborations have resulted in a beer than ended up substantially being better than anything from an existing brewers past portfolio of beers?" - Well, any answer to that question will be extremely subjective. You've removed some of that subjectivity by instead shifting to what beer "clearly put a brewer on the map." I don't know if your example fits either criteria though. I feel like Cellar Door and Westbrook Gose put each brewer on the map, but maybe my perspective is off.

 

I'm talking about Stillwater. Gose Gone Wild is still their top rated beer (looking at enough ratings...not considering the low review count ones) and its a collaboration.