Why Craft Beer Collaborations Matter

Craft beer collaborations have grown exponentially over the last couple of years and have become increasingly popular with brewers and serious beer fans everywhere. What was once just a curiosity, collaboration projects are now very much a part of today’s craft beer landscape…And there are reasons why they’re now so important.

Collaborations Foster Camaraderie and Community

It’s thought that the first collaboration beer emerged in 2004 when two brewers discovered that they were both brewing a beer with the same name. As it turned out, Avery Brewing in Colorado and California-based Russian River had both begun work on a beer they’d named Salvation. But rather than taking the more traditional route of contacting lawyers and entering into all kinds of naming rights litigation, Vinnie Cilurzo and Adam Avery took a road less traveled and started working together on the project, which resulted in the legendary Collaboration Not Litigation Ale. The choices they made back then not only reflected and further defined craft beer’s spirit and sense of community but it also gave birth to a whole new tradition – the collaboration beer.

Collaborations Can Spur Creativity

Sometimes established musicians take on side projects with different groups. It does them good to step away from the music they’ve become known for, and playing with others can sometimes lead them to unlikely and creative places. The same exact thing can happen when different brewers choose to get together. Collaborations allow brewers to stretch a little, to explore and learn from each other.

Collaborations Can Create Pop Cultural Marketing Buzz

Many of today’s brewers and breweries have become celebrities and brands with huge followings. People are interested in what they’re doing, where they’re going, who they’re hanging out with – and collaboration beers fuel that interest. Every collaboration project comes with a unique cast of players, different angles, and its own backstory. And the fact that all of these beers are “limited-edition” one-offs only adds to their momentum, their value, and their mystique.

Collaborations were once just the domain of brewers or breweries working on different projects together. But in recent years, even that definition has expanded wildly. Nowadays collaborations have moved well beyond Sierra Nevada doing something special with Russian River (as with BRUX). We’re now seeing collaborations brewed to commemorate festivals and events (SAVOR’s New York Limited),as well as brewery collaborations with TV and tech celebrities (Stone’s w00t Stout), trendy HBO shows (Ommegang’s brilliant Game of Thrones beer series), and popular craft beer news and lifestyle sites (Airways/ ACB Non-Stop Session IPA).

Collaborations Are Good for Business

Collaborations are good for the business and bring value and credibility not only to breweries, but also to everyone involved. You don’t get invited to be part of one of these things unless you matter somehow and that’s always good for one’s bottom line. Collaborations help spread the word and grow the industry. Established brewers can bring credibility to lesser known breweries and get around distribution boundaries when they work together. Social causes can be advanced by some collaborations and money raised to support important things.

Bottom Line

Craft beer collaborations are now an ingrained part of today’s craft beer movement. And for something that started almost by accident, they now have a life all their own. They’re conceptually adventurous, pop-culturally exciting and, more times than not, great to drink.

And they are definitely not going away…