Collaboration Fest Season is among us. The story of Jack's on the Rocks illustrates the breadth and depth of our community of brewers as we gather and share our knowledge and passion.
This rare Rauch Märzen Steinbier Lager was the ultimate collaboration experience by two world-class, medal-winning breweries: the legendary Jack's Abby from Framingham, Massachusetts at Wibby Brewing in Longmont, Colorado.
The plan ignited when Jack Hendler (Jack's Abby) wrote to interview Wibby for a Brewers Association book project he + colleague, Joe Connolly (Springdale) are working on about the methods, processes, and inspiration behind lager brewing.
As small world (getting smaller) would have it, Brewmaster Wibby's brother lives in Massachusetts and sends limited edition Jack's Abby bottle releases home for birthdays/holidays. This sudsy connection prompted a detour to visit the brewery during a family ski trip where we dropped off some fine lagers of our own.
Who would have thought fast forwarding a few years, would bring us back to our Colorado lagerhaus to host Jack personally for a collaboration brew for the ages.
Our refined ancient Steinbier brewing techniques provided a distinctive experience for stoking fire, fanning flames, and scorching granite.
The result?
Our project produced an original, smoked amber lager loaded with caramelization, undertones of bread crust, producing a beautiful, red honey gold wort rich in color.
6% abv ~20 IBUs.
Extra Special THANK YOU to our Maltster brethren+sistren who made this happen! This brew would not have been possible if it wasn't for the incredible service Montana Craft Malt. Shout out to their amazing team for hustling huge to ensure the rich, artisanal, smoked specialty base malt we ordered, Bavarian Pils (of the traditional German heirloom barley cultivar STEFFI), arrived on time for the brew. We appreciate you!
We had a roaring time brewing a Rauch Märzen Steinbier Lager (unlike any John Holl has ever tasted before;). We're grateful that so much more has brought our Lager Families full-circle. #LagerLove is real.
LIMITED RELEASE: Just like the NASA collab there will be limited allocations of cans to go available daily. The labels are going on in batches to ensure we have a small amount of packaged product each day until CollabFest. This will be available at the Colorado Brewers Guild's collaboration fest event at the Fillmore Auditorium on 4/2. Tickets will sell out.
Love Lagers?
Wibby Brewing special imports various lager styles from breweries such as Jack's Abby to serve at the lager-exclusive, pool party beer festival, Hooplagers. This year's highly anticipated festival is slated for July 16th, 2022.