Four Snohomish County breweries will be pairing up to take part in this weekend’s first annual Collaboration Festival in Seattle.
The breweries couldn’t be matched up more perfectly. Two of Snohomish County’s elder statesmen, Scuttlebutt Brewing and Diamond Knot Brewing, got together to brew a beer for the festival, while a pair of up-and-coming north county breweries, Skookum Brewery and Whitewall Brewing, put their heads together on an ale.
“We’re like brothers from another mother,” said Diamond Knot Brand Ambassador Ajen Birmingham, referring to DK’s relationship with Scuttlebutt. “We’ve grown up with Scuttlebutt from the beginning.”
Whitewall owners and brewers Sean Wallner and Aaron Wight were in the same home brew club, Stillymashers, as Skookum head brewer Hollis Wood, and the three had been trying for years to brew a beer together. In fact, the club used to meet at Skookum’s old location in rural Snohomish County.
“We’ve brewed on their system and Hollis has come over and helped us, but (Wood and Skookum owner Ron Walcher) always seemed to have too many irons in the fire to get together and do something,” Wallner said. “So when the Collaboration Festival came along it was a natural thing.”
Scuttlebutt and Diamond Knot collaborated on a very unique beer. Inspired by one of Birmingham’s friends, the two breweries came up with a Thai-inspired lager called Thai Me Up. It’s brewed with jasmine rice and then infused with an extract made of lemongrass, galangal root and kaffir lime.
“It’s really light and subtle,” Birmingham said. “All of the flavors come through: the lime, lemongrass. The root gives it a nice peppery flavor. It’s sweet with a touch of spice.”
Scuttlebutt head brewer Matt Stromberg said he’s always told the Diamond Knot guys that he wanted to play around on their 10-barrel system at the brewery’s pub in Mountlake Terrace.
“I was joking, but they took me seriously and reached out,” Stromberg said. “I was like, ‘Let’s do it.’ ”
Skookum and Whitewall collaborated on a white IPA they’re calling Rollin’ Down Rodeo Wit a Sasquatch. Brewed with three different hops (Galaxy, Citra, Mosaic) and conditioned on whole mangoes and pink peppercorn, it’s not a traditional white IPA. Instead of Belgian yeast, it uses American ale yeast, pilsner malts and wheat.
“I call it the anti-wit,” said Wood, comparing it to the traditional Belgian beer brewed with coriander and orange peel. “It’s got that taste of fruit and spice but from the other side. It’s really, really good.”
Whitewall is known for its Retread Red IPA and Wallner said the brewery just rotated off a black IPA, so a doing a white IPA made sense.
“Hollis has done a lot with Skookum’s IPA lineup, but they’ve never done a white IPA,” Wallner said. “They really liked the idea.”
The beer is on tap at Skookum for those who can’t make it to the festival.
Washington Beer Commission’s first Collaboration Festival will feature 25 combinations of breweries from all over the state. Besides the local beers, one in particular stands out: Peninsula breweries, Silver City Brewing and Sound Brewery, are bringing Sound City Wheatfist, a blend of Silver City Hopfist Imperial IPA and Sound’s Wheat Wine, which is made with the brewery’s mash filter.
Everett’s Lazy Boy Brewing will also be taking part this weekend, pairing up with Naked City Brewing to make Tapioca Tart, a Berliner Weisse-style beer brewed with tapioca pearls added to the mash and tapioca malto dextrin added to the boil.
If you go
The first annual Washington Beer Collaboration Festival is 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. April 22 and noon to 6 p.m. April 23 at South Lake Union Discovery Center, 101 Westlake Ave N., Seattle. The festival will feature 25 unique collaboration beers from 50 different Washington breweries. Advance tickets are $30 or $35 at the door and include a commemorative glass and eight tasting tokens. For more information, visit www.washingtonbeer.com. For a list of beers, go to http://washingtonbeer.com/cms_docs/Collaboration2016BeerList.pdf.
Read more
To read more on the two local collaboration beers, Thai-Me-Up and Rollin’ Down Rodeo Wit a Sasquatch, read Aaron Swaney’s Beer of the Week in Sunday’s The Good Life.
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