The ‘Surplus’ of Collaboration Brews
As a craft beer aficionado, whenever a pair of breweries get together to collaborate on creating a beer, it’s always an extra-special, sought-after release. These beers, in the eyes of the beer-holder, contain an ‘extra;’ a surplus of enjoyment beyond that of the (non-collab) beer beside it on the shelf. Craft beer collaborations are seen in a slightly different way, as if you’re getting a two-for-one; an additional greatness from the combined forces of the respective breweries.
Of course, the experience, in the end, never really lives up to the hype you created in your head (although that is true for everything, I believe). And of course, just because two breweries work together, does not necessitate they’ll do so well or successfully. But there’s clearly that special sort of allure with a brewery collaboration beer release.
Transcending beer
There’s another aspect of craft beer collaborations that’s alluring for a different set of reasons though. Brewery collaborations highlight a sense of community and shared purpose – of producing great beer to be enjoyed by all (i.e., the community). Collaborations work to extend the communities by joining them together; introducing each community to the ‘taste’ of the other’s.
I’d say that collaborations within craft beer act to symbolize what the craft beer industry sees itself as (or, at the very least, sells itself as): as a community-building product, able to transcend the limits of a typical product’s purpose of consumer use and capitalist profit. The very essence of collaboration between two would-be competitors stands for this. (To be sure, when was the last time Adidas and Nike collaborated on a shoe together?).
And their collaborations go beyond beer (…I did just say that…). Craft breweries will collaborate with local businesses in other sectors as well. They work with local farmers for unique produce to use with new recipes. Breweries work with local clothing designers for creating merchandise. They collaborate with local artists on branding. They fundraise for charities and non-profit organizations. Breweries host local Business Improvement Area board meetings. And so on. This all works to unite their community further, of course.
The Craft surplus
Craft beer collaborations are beer releases that give body to the extra, surplus of enjoyment that any craft beer drinker gets from drinking craft beer: access and participation to a world that celebrates local community and exclusive releases.
“To drink Craft is to drink exclusivity itself.”
Indeed, when one drinks craft beer, it is never just a beer that they are drinking – they are always drinking Craft. And to drink Craft is to drink that exclusivity itself. The appeal of craft beer is not merely or only (or really) the beer, but the extra enjoyment such a beer promises us access to (#limitedrelease, #[insert your city’s name here]craftbeer, or even #supportlocal).
The paradox of craft beer
For sure, a lot of this is really marketing. In the end, breweries are businesses acting within a capitalist economy. It’s a matter of how we say things, isn’t it? While two breweries collaborating together, indeed, may “work to extend the communities by joining them together,” the breweries are, at the same time, also extending their markets by tapping into each other’s consumer base.
You may have already thought that at least four paragraphs ago.
This is the paradox of craft beer: a community-building product that prides itself on inclusivity is also, at the same time a product that exploits its consumers’ enjoyment of access to an exclusive community.
The New Craft Beer Collaborations
The world has changed/is changing in dramatic ways, beginning 9 months or so ago. Craft beer collaborations began by Other Half Brewing (“All Together IPA”) and then Weathered Souls Brewing (“Black Is Beautiful Stout”) introduced a different sort of brewery collaboration.
Other Half Brewing in New York, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the shutting down of industries, in particular the hospitality industry, created an IPA that they sold with 100% of the proceeds being donated to their local hospitality workers. The branding and recipe was then shared across the globe, inviting every brewery to brew their own version of the All Together IPA to raise funds for hospitality workers in their own area.
After the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police and the anti-racism social uprising that quickly ensued, San Antonio-based Weathered Souls Brewing took Other Half’s lead, creating the Black Is Beautiful Stout and inviting breweries from around the world to produce their own spin on it. 100% of the proceeds are donated to local legal defence funds for those who have been wrongfully convicted and/or to police brutality reform projects.
For these collaborations, breweries brewed the same beer differently separately together: the beer collaboration itself is a paradox wrapped up inside a paradox!
But these are not really beer collaborations. Breweries are not brewing together nor brewing the same beers here, but every beer being brewed does share the same extended purpose of every other beer being brewed. The collaboration here is really not about the beer, but (almost) entirely about the purpose. Indeed, for these initiatives, the breweries collaborate on affecting their communities together – they do not really collaborate on beer.
It’s astounding
Other Half’s All Together initiative currently has more than 850 breweries from across the world participating. Weathered Souls’ Black Is Beautiful initiative has had almost 1200 breweries brew their stout to date. While there are hundreds of breweries brewing the beers, the exclusivity of each particular brewery’s version, combined with the allure of participating in helping to build/prop up the community, means these beers sell out quickly, sometimes in an instant.
The success of both is astounding and totally awesome. That said, it’s maybe not as surprising as we may first think, given how well the product manifests the real appeal of Craft: participation in an exclusive community (i.e., limited release) that helps build the community around it. Which is to say that these craft beer collaborations introduce a new paradigm of Craft collaborations. And I’ll say again: they’re astoundingly awesome.
But it’s also somewhat astounding to me that not every brewery has participated in these projects. Now, certainly, we’re not in some period of economic expansion here in this pandemic – quite the opposite, clearly. I don’t own a brewery, so I cannot say that breweries must participate in these two particular initiatives, but I will encourage every one of you to ask your local brewery whether or not they have participated, and why they haven’t if that is the case. The more the merrier; if you can, you should.
And why stop once you start?
I also would like to see the breweries who have/are participating continue to produce these two beers (that is, until the support they provide their respective causes is no longer required, I suppose). These collaborations have worked like every craft brewery collaboration should: by extending beyond beer, and to the nth degree in this case. Bottling companies and label makers have donated their services to the initiative. Suppliers have donated ingredients. As long as the beer can avoid costing a brewery anything, why not just make it for the sake of being a Craft brewery, for the sake of building one’s community?
I know – that is perhaps a naive question. For starters, these financial arrangements cannot sustain themselves ad infinitum. But then these arrangements can adapt and change: there may be less proceeds being donated now to offset added costs, we could imagine, but there are still donations being made at the end of the day. Moreover, the messaging of such initiatives continues to be spread, which may in fact be more significant than the fundraising they produce (at least in one instance of the two, to be sure).
Now, I do see the real estate issue here of having these beers take up fermentation tanks for weeks at a time (or longer) when a brewery could have something else fermenting that would bring profit into the brewery. It’s clear that there’s an unavoidable cost in a loss of profit, and a few hectolitres of beer (or more) is no small amount of lost potential profits, I must acknowledge. Balance here would of course need to be struck; and certainly many breweries would tell me that they couldn’t afford to ‘balance’ things long-term, and definitely not during a pandemic.
It’s gotta be Craft
I get it; it’s true; this is capitalism – one can’t be working for free! But if you really are going to be Craft, then these sorts of projects must be an integral part of your business long-term. An effort must be made to create such a ‘balance,’ whatever you can manage to make that balance be, in other words.
It is true that the business may lose (short-term) profits, but you will likely gain other advantages from participating and acting as a leader in your community (which can easily translate into long-term profits – so in the end, you won’t be working for free). The point here is not that every brewery should brew an All Together IPA and a Black Is Beautiful Stout; rather, the point is that if you are not involved in projects like these (invent your own!), then you may not in fact be a Craft brewery proper.
Your product is a bridge. That’s how you, craft breweries, have always defined it. Indeed, this is part of what it means to be Craft: to be engaged with your community and a part of its growth and improvement. That’s what initiatives like All Together and Black Is Beautiful have carved into higher relief these past 9 months or so.
You are community-builders after all.
Or are you?
Today’s social landscape, in many different ways, but especially and really beginning with these craft beer collaborations from Other Half and Weathered Souls, is asking craft breweries to define their Craft more clearly – not in their ‘brewing philosophy’ (experimentation, ingredient procurement, consistency, blah, blah, blah…), but in what they actually do, in their actions within their community.
So, the question to the reader is, ‘How does your local brewery define their Craft?’
If you have a response that you would prefer not be published, please do contact me directly - I would love to hear your thoughts on any or all of this!
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