We brewed a special small batch collab with our friends at Cigar City Brewing for the 5th annual Collaboration Beer Fest. The fest is a nod to the traditions of innovation and comraderie that have always made the craft beer community the wild, crazy and completely RAD group that it is. Visitors get a chance to try rare tappings created specifically for the festival, like this one:
Sub Straight IPA (Collaboration with Cigar City Brewing), 6.7% ABV: Our main HOBO Tim Matthews and Cigar City’s Brewmaster Wayne Wambles got together for a total nerdfest to create Sub Straight IPA – a complex, floral and citrus-y brew that is total blue-ribbon-at-the-science-fair material. The brewers focused on two biochemical processes that go down when hops are added into a fermentation and split the dry hop into two sessions – one at the tail end of peak fermentation and the other after fermentation. First, they targeted biotransformation by selecting hops high in an essential oil called geraniol, mutating it into citronellol in a floral-to-citrus switcheroo. Then, they doubled down on the nerdery with a second round of dry hops added along with a supplementary enzyme called beta-glucosidase, which boosts citrus flavor and aroma notes by breaking down the bonds between sugars and oils in glycosides. Phew. Don’t worry, there’s not a pop quiz at the end – just another round.
Come find us at the fest March 31 at the Hyatt Regency in Downtown Denver! Lyons Head Brewer Juice Drapeau will be there hanging out and answering questions.
Read more about the Collaboration Beer Fest including ticket information here.