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Collaboration
noun | col·lab·o·ra·tion | \kə-ˌla-bə-ˈrā-shən The action of working "jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor."
With over of decade of building teams and teaching communication techniques, I have never tasted collaboration this refreshing. Washington craft breweries are intellectually creative brew crews; they unveiled their beer collaborations at the second annual Washington Beer Collaboration Festival on August 19, 2017. Unique flavors and fun names excited every beer enthusiasts in attendance.
The Washington Beer Commission hosted 28 original collaboration beers from all over the state to dazzle and amaze every craft beer lovers' palate. For those that are W.A.B.L. members, they had the opportunity to sample the featured beer for W.A.B.L. members; Gateway Creamsicle from Rooftop Brew Co.
In similar fashion, I collaborated with two couples to celebrate the 2017 Washington Beer Collaboration Festival. The Brew HOPeratives for this festival are: Alissa & Cam and Ann & Greg. Our collaboration can be viewed on Instagram by searching for the following hashtags:
#Washington Beer Collaboration Festival, #Drink WA Beer, #Brew Hoperatives, and #A Beerded Gentleman.
Because beer is fun, we decided to come up with some fun awards titles. These awards have no ribbons, no cash value and even less criteria for judgement. Keep reading and find out who "won" awards.
Alissa & Cam: These two found beauty and awe in the beers, as well as throughout the festival.
Their verdict:
Most Creative Beer Name
Don't Mess with Me Beer
MVP In My Mouth Beer (MVP = Most Valuable Party)
Ann & Greg: As owners of The Hop House, they spend their free time enjoying craft beers from Washington. Please enjoy their photos and written experience of the 2017 Washington Beer Collaboration Festival.
It was a beautiful day to escape the Eastside for a trip into the city, with that hot sunny weather perfect for drinking cold craft beer. We looked forward to supporting the WBC, and celebrating some exciting collaboration beers from our favorite Washington breweries, and meet some new ones as well. Finally, with wrist bands on, tiny tulip tasters and wooden coins in hand, we boldly entered.
It was hard to escape notice of Sumerian and Melvin, together in the booth closest to the gate, and their NW IPA was just as amazing as expected. A great balance of heavenly Simcoe, Columbus & Amarillo hoppiness, and a kiss of sweet 100% Yakima Valley malt. Their very creative name cannot be mentioned in a family venue, however the award it genuinely deserved is the Best Representation of PNW Flavors! Wait, isn’t Melvin from Wyoming? Being so busy running our pub in Redmond, we were extremely pleased to hear they expanded to Bellingham very recently, home town of Melvin’s owner!
The experience there could easily persuaded me to go no further, but there was much still to see and brews to sample. We enjoyed the light, fruit and ginger sour by Big Block and 20 Corners – perfect for a hot day, as well as the Lager by Mollusk and Rooftop.
A fun encounter with Cash Brewing from Silverdale proved to merit the Most Creative Beer Name Award for their collab with Naked City, and nod to AC/DC, on “Highway to Tripel,” made with cacao nibs. Simply delish!
The NEIPA haze craze is not lost on us. The artistry going into brewing these tropical delights bring a whole new definition to what “hoppiness” means, and there were plenty to choose from at the festival. Tacoma favs Dystopian State and Wingman brewed Motueka and Idaho 7 hops into their unique Crump Juice. Aslan and Reuben’s Citra heavy Tales of Ordinary Madness was wonderful as well. Our pick for the Life is Brewtiful award goes to Cloudburst and Fremont’s late-named Dijbouti IPA which was simply a delightful kick in the bouti!
Like the two couples, I had an amazing time at the Washington Beer Collaboration Festival. I had the pleasure of meeting other beer enthusiasts. They all have different stories, but they came together on this one particular day to support and experience the creatively intellectual endeavors of Washington breweries.
While observing the craft culture in Seattle, I had the opportunity to meet Eliseo. He was sporting a Dope and Dank t-shirt. Eliseo may not be the founder of Dope and Dank, but he promotes this craft culture movement with his engaging Instagram account while showcasing Washington craft beers.
Cheers!
James
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