Brewers Association unites Maryland breweries for special collaboration series – Baltimore Sun

Free State craft breweries have teamed up to produce a unique series of collaborative beers to benefit the Brewers Association of Maryland, the premier industry and advocacy organization for these producers.

Called The Collab Project, this new initiative pairs more than 25 breweries with four different limited-run beers. Brewers Association executive director Kevin Atticks said the project was born in part out of a desire to support the Brewers Association in the absence of their two flagship events, the Maryland and Baltimore Craft Beer Festivals. .

“Collaborations have been generated by breweries wanting to host and many breweries wanting to participate as collaborators,” he said. “Each took a different theme and ran with it.”

The four beers in the first series were each brewed at a specific Maryland brewery, with the collaboration of several others. They include: the Eight Hazy IPA, brewed at the BC Brewery in Hunt Valley; What Maryland Stouts, hosted at True Respite Brewing Company in Derwood; Italian-style BAM Pilsner, brewed at Calvert Brewing Co. in Upper Marlboro; and POW, SMACK, BAM!, a fruity sour collaboration that Idiom Brewing Co. in Frederick hosted. Baltimore City-based breweries that have participated in these collaborations include Charm City Meadworks, Mobtown Brewing Company, Full Tilt Brewing, and Nepenthe Brewing Co.

Abby Casarella, events director for the Brewers Association, said these collaborations also speak to the spirit of collaboration between breweries across the state.

“We wanted to capture the inherent collaboration that breweries across the state are already doing,” she said. “I think it’s something quite unique in the craft beer industry…It’s just a great way to get together and share ideas.”

She noted that a similar project, Brew for BAMalready took place earlier this year and addressed the organization’s fundraising issues.

According to Casarella, the organization found itself in trouble when the novel coronavirus and associated closures made it impossible to hold their aforementioned flagship events in 2020. The organization’s inability to hold these events cost them nearly $150,000 in revenue, she said.

Project Collab beers are available for pre-order through biermi, a beer ordering app co-founded by True Respite Brewing Company’s Brendan O’Leary, and sold in four-packs or 24 16oz cases. cans. They are available for purchase until a date to be determined in early November and for delivery the week of November 16.