The first time I drank a beer from Austin’s Jester King Brewery, or SoCal’s Pizza Port Brewing Company, or Anaheim’s Bottle Logic Brewing, it was in the form of a collaboration with one of my local, Chicago-area breweries. I’m not alone: for many, collaborations offer a rare chance to enjoy faraway brands outside of their geographical footprints. With that spirit of cooperation in mind, we asked The Fervent Few to share some of their favorite collaboration beers—and the distant breweries that they enabled them to try.

Jason Berg kicked things off with his own Jester King story. “Last year, Fair State Brewing Cooperative in Minneapolis did a collaboration with Jester King called 1,170 Miles. It was a tart Saison made with Minnesota spruce tips and Texas rosemary that was outstanding. Since Jester King does not distribute here, it was my first experience trying their beer.”

Michael Kiser counts his lucky stars that he was in the room for a pretty epic collaboration. “I was lucky enough to witness the collaboration between Tomme Arthur of The Lost Abbey Brewing Company and Brasserie Dupont. It was the first collab Dupont had ever done—and it was the first time American aroma hops had ever been in the brewery. Tomme and Olivier DeDeycker spent a good deal of time just getting familiar with the agriculture and sensory aspects of the new hops so that the Dupont brewing team could decide how to use them. That was also the first time Tomme saw how they manage yeast—which they do basically using a big metal, open vat with a plastic pitcher for scooping. He was astonished. Then we all went down to the cafe and ate ham and drank Saison and you could tell that none of us understood how we got there.”

Speaking of Dupont, Kristen Foster highlighted a recent collab beer they made in partnership with Allagash Brewery. “One of my favorite collaborations was Brewers’ Bridge between Brasserie Dupont and Allagash. Brewed in Belgium, the collaboration felt like the perfect pairing of the two breweries, both of which are focused on similar styles and have similar values.”

Jim was curious if any breweries had gone outside of their comfort zones during a collaboration. Andrés Muñoz had a crystal-clear example. “I’m a fan of Notch Brewing and Trillium Brewing Company’s collaboration beer called I Predict A Riot, which is a Pale Lager. Notch is a master of session beers and Lagers. Trillium is, well ... Trillium. Together, they ended up making one of the clearest beers I've ever seen carry a Trillium label on it.”

Other Half Brewing in New York makes a lot of collaboration beers, but Dustin Reiner points to what might be its most fabled joint effort. “Other Half had a huge hit with its collab with Genesee Brewing Company, just as it was getting ready to open a second location south of Rochester. The beer was an imperial version of Genesee’s iconic Cream Ale, and interest in it from non-beer people was like nothing I’d ever seen.”

Paige Latham Didora notes that, in her neck of the woods, there’s a festival dedicated solely to collaboration beers. “At In Cahoots, breweries get paired at random and are tasked with making a beer together, and often the brewers have very different styles. For example, Schell's Brewery was paired with Sociable Cider Werks—a super traditional German brewery plus a brewery that specializes in graf (cider-beer hybrids), in other words. They may have even won that year ... I think it's a good learning exercise.”

AJ Keirans was excited about a collaboration that kept it in the family. “I saw a recent collaboration between Tribus Beer Company, Counter Weight Brewing Company, and New England Brewing Company. It was an IPA called Sidekick, and it was enjoyable, but not memorable in flavor. The reason this collab meant so much to me was more about who was making it. Rob Leonard is the owner of New England Brewing, and Matt Westfall was the former head brewer—he helped create some of their most popular beers. Matt opened Counter Weight in 2017 and in his absence Matt Weichner and Sebastian D’Agostino took over as head brewers. The two of them, along with a third, launched Tribus Beer in 2018. To see all of them come together to create a beer was a great thing for the local Connecticut beer scene (and my heart).”

From an insider’s perspective, Lana Svitankova tells us why these collaborations are so great for breweries. “As a member of a brewery, what I like about collaborations is that they’re fun and provide opportunities to meet people, but they’re also educational. When we do a collab, we try to make a recipe to which everyone can contribute expertise and knowledge. And I just love showing off my city and national cuisine, and our local craft beer scene, to people when they come for collabs. My personal favorite of our collabs is Mavka with Siren Craft Brew—it was a terrific adventure, and the beer turned out fantastically as well.”

Sometimes, as Rob Steuart shares, collaborations can span countries and cross oceans. “There have been a few collabs between Bridge Road Brewers in Victoria, Australia and Nøgne Ø from Norway. The first, released in 2011, was an Indian Saison which was a great melding of Nøgne’s U.S.-inspired hop game and Bridge Road’s early work in Belgian-style Saisons. They later made two more collaboration beers: Aurora Australis and Aurora Borealis. Both were barrel-aged Stouts brewed with the same recipe. The Australis was brewed in Australia, put into red-wine barrels, and then shipped by boat to Norway and distributed by Nøgne. The Borealis was brewed in Norway in Scotch barrels, shipped to Australia, and sold by Bridge Road. Both beers were great, and it was an awesome concept.”

Do you have a favorite collaboration beer? Which breweries should get together and brew something wonderful? Join The Fervent Few and share your thoughts with our online community.