Rival brewers team up on ale

Collaborations between craft brewers are nothing new. One of the more fascinating examples is Collaboration Not Litigation, a Belgian-style strong dark ale brewed by Vinnie Cilurzo of California’s Russian River Brewing and Adam Avery of Colorado’s Avery Brewing.

Collaboration came about because Cilurzo and Avery each made a beer called Salvation. Instead of suing each other over the rights to the name, they decided to create a hybrid brew that turned out to be quite tasty.

And it allowed Russian River and Avery to appeal to the better angels of small-scale brewing culture —- namely a passion for great beer that often puts creativity and cooperation before commerce.

Here in Georgia, Brian “Spike” Buckowski of Athens’ Terrapin Beer Co. has been involved in several brewing collaborations.

In 2007, Buckowski teamed with Jordan Fleetwood of Decatur’s Twain’s brewpub to brew Twainapin Honey Porter as part of the ongoing Terrapin and Friends beer dinners. More recently, Terrapin partnered with Colorado’s Left Hand Brewing for the Midnight Project, a collaborative series of one-time releases that kicked off in 2008 with Terra-rye’zd black rye lager.

“It’s a fun process,” says Buckowski. “You get to bounce ideas off another brewer and come up with a recipe. With Left Hand, it was interesting because we were basically thinking the same thing at the same time. It was almost scary how in sync we were.”

Buckowski’s latest collaborative effort is a Belgian-style saison conceived with Kevin McNerney of 5 Seasons Brewing Co. at the Prado. Buckow-ski and McNerney unveiled the beer —- on tap at 5 Seasons now —- during a special event in tribute to local farmers and community supported agriculture programs.

Dubbed Farmhouse Ale, it was brewed with six different malts, four European hop varieties, a special Belgian yeast strain, and Small Farms Honey, a wildflower honey from Douglas county.

Those ingredients come together to produce a beer reminiscent of the classic Saison Dupont, with a slightly spicy nose, and a tart, refreshing flavor.

For Buckowski and McNerney, working together also had some historic significance, because Buckowski left 5 Seasons to start Terrapin and McNerney came to 5 Seasons after leaving Atlanta’s Sweetwater Brewing Co.

“I’ve known Spike for about 11 years,” says McNerney, “going back to the start of Sweetwater. So to get the opportunity to put our heads together and brew this batch of beer was a real pleasure.

“To do this in honor of our local farmers, who mean so much to us, was a great thing. And I’d never used honey in a beer, so that was another first.”

McNerney admits he wasn’t accustomed to working with the saison yeast strain, which is notoriously slow to commence fermentation.

“As it turned out, this was a really tough beer,” he says. “Honestly, I’ve never worked so hard for a single batch of beer in my life. But I was really pleased with the result —- a real, nice, drinkable ale.”

As for upcoming Terrapin collaborations, look for the second edition of the Midnight Project with Left Hand, called Depth Charge Espresso Milk Stout, to be released in the fall.

And Buckowski will be traveling to Belgium in spring 2010 to brew with Dirk Naudts for De Proef’s increasingly famous Brewmaster’s Series, which has featured beers by Tomme Arthur of Lost Abbey and Jason Perkins of Allagash.

Terrapin & Friends Beer Dinner featuring Left Hand Brewing Co.

6:30 p.m. July 14, $45

Trappeze Pub, Athens

Reservations recommended: 706-543-8997, www.trappezepub.com

Bob Townsend is editor of Southern BrewNews,a bimonthly beer publication distributed throughout the Southeast.