Collaboration or Bust
When we began construction on Brouwerij DuBois in July 2023, we knew that we would not have our own brewhouse online when we opened, so we began planning some collaboration brews. We have some amazing friends in the industry and were hoping they might be kind enough to lend us a hand by hosting us for brew days at their places. This allows have our hands on some of the beers we serve, learn even more from friends in the industry, and keep our guests excited about what’s to come. And while we were planning on brewing our own beers on our own system much earlier than what has actually transpired, the collaboration process has been a blast nonetheless and will continue for a bit longer as we work through construction this Summer and Fall with the hopes of firing up the system in late 2024.
But one of the main questions we get is “what is it like to do a collaboration?” Folks usually end up being curious about a few different facets of these scenarios, so we figured we might try to explain, from our own little humble perspective, how the process has gone for us thus far.
“HOW DO THEY COME ABOUT?”
Well, so far, we have really been kind of aggressive in trying to find partners that would be willing to host us for a collaboration, because it is so important to our business at this stage. So we have gone out of our way to ask around to friends. For example, we reached out to White Elephant about a collab because Jordan worked with those guys in the past when he was at Lowes Foods and we have mutual friends and connections as well. It made sense for their small neighborhood brewery and us to work together and they were more than willing. We also asked Incendiary and their guys, being friends of ours and wanting to support another local brewery, were happy to host. Others asked us, offering to host us without our even having to ask. That was true for Sneaky Penguin and Little Brother, both of whom Jordan had also worked with in the past. Chris at Sneaky Penguin actually told Jordan months before he even left Lowes Foods that they’d be willing to collaborate when the time came, and Josh at Little Brother offered upon hearing that we were opening the taproom. How cool is that!?
“HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHAT TO BREW?”
This kind of depends on the needs of both breweries, but honestly, considering the position we are in, we have pretty much been down to brew anything! Sneaky Penguin had already planned to brew their winter Saison, and offered to let us come along and be a part of it. With the DuBroski IPA we did with Little Brother, Josh and Mike from LB sat down with Cassie and Jordan to discuss what we wanted to do and indicated they were hoping to brew an IPA soon, which we were more than amenable to. Incendiary’s team doesn’t do much in the way of Farmhouse ales, but were excited about the prospect of doing something a little bit out of their normal scope to fit what we were wanting to do. It just took a sit down conversation and we realized we wanted the same thing. And the Irish Red with White Elephant fit perfectly for the season, allowing us both to have the brew we needed for St. Patrick’s Day. When we were discussing the options of a style with our old buddy Adam at Gypsy Road, we wanted to do a Kolsch specifically so that we could host a traditional Kolsch service at our taproom, and it worked out well going into Summer for us both to have a lighter brew available.
“WHAT HAPPENS ON BREW DAY?”
Honestly, the host brewery does most of the heavy lifting. After all, they know the ins and outs of their own system in a way that the visiting collaborator just doesn’t. So the host brewer is working while the visitors (us) are hanging out, talking shop, asking questions, discussing processes, and catching up. We sample beers, we discuss techniques, we ask questions about equipment, and we jump in and help where we can.
“WHY DO BREWERS LIKE DOING COLLABS?”
It’s kind of fun! Brewing beer every day can eventually feel kind of monotonous. Having a collaboration brew day allows for a bit of engagement, idea sharing, and fun. Some of the larger breweries might do collaborations as a strategic business initiative, pushing their brand into new markets or showing off their support of another business. Sometimes its a shared interest thing, where a brewery that specializes in a certain style hosts a brewery that hasn’t done much in that area to sort of teach them the details of it. Sometimes its more of just a fun and easy day thing. Jordan used to spend countless Sundays homebrewing with Adam (Gypsy Road) in the garage prior to either being professionals in the industry. The chance to do so again on a commercial project was one that couldn’t be passed up!
“HOW DO YOU SPLIT THE BEER?”
Typically, it’s a fifty-fifty split of the final yield. Sometimes that isn’t possible though and that’s okay. It’s all about open communication and clear expectations. For example, when we brewed with Little Brother, the batch was huge and ended up being 17 BBL yield or so. But not long before packaging, they got a call from Greensboro Coliseum, who had a new spot open up in their line up and wanted to know if Little Brother had a beer to fill it. The only hoppy option in tanks was our collab, so Mike called Jordan and asked if we could pivot. The result was far less of the beer on tap at Brouwerij DuBois, but we got to can it and sell four packs and individual cans. That was a huge win for Little Brother, and we still got to share a ton of the beer, so while we got less than half of the batch, we were perfectly fine with the results.
“WHAT COLLABS ARE COMING UP NEXT?”
We have had initial conversations with several breweries about upcoming opportunities and until those are nailed down more concretely, we wouldn’t want to share too much for fear that something could fall through. That happens sometimes and its okay. But we can share that we currently have a sour ale aging in barrels at Steel String Brewing in Mebane. Kate from Molley Chomper Cider approached us about two empty barrels she had and we decided to see what we could do with them. These barrels had originally held bourbon, then a batch of Molley Chomper cider. We approached Steel String and they had a sour that had been aging in stainless but needed an oaky slumber and so we trekked out to Mebane to discuss options. Later on that month, the barrels were moved to their spot and filled up with yummy sour. Here before long, we will taste the progress, decide on any fruit/spice treatments, and then eventually get that bad boy packaged up. We also have plans to do a collaboration brew with our buddy Tripp at Heist Brewery in Charlotte in late August, possibly utilizing wet hops. More on these two in the coming weeks/months, and hopefully we can nail down a couple more for the Fall.
So there you have it. We hope that this FAQ helps answer some of those burning questions. Have more? Stop by the taproom and ask Jordan or Cassie. We love sharing those experiences and providing a peak behind the curtain. We hope to see you on the corner soon!
