Cool Kid Collabs
The VBS and Oozlefinch gangs at Schilling’s Oktoberfest, 2019
By Mark Ewald, aka Shep
It is always satisfying when brewers that you introduced hit it off and end up making some pretty cool beers together. We have some of the dopest brewers out there and when they put their minds together, it produces some truly awesome outcomes. This week we’re so pumped to have two collabs for all of your thirsty folks out there.
When Shep first met the folks at Oozlefinch from Ft. Monroe VA, he knew that the brand was going to be special. Owner, Russ, and head brewer, Rachel, give off some great vibes and are doing some really different, innovative stuff. Not to mention the beers, which are outstanding.
Russ had asked if me if I could help get some of our brands to participate in his upcoming anniversary festival, which was a tall task as none of our other brands had ever heard of Oozlefinch before. I suggested that the Oozlefinch crew come to New Englandto attend the Schilling Octoberfest where I knew I could introduce them to a bunch of our best brewers and other distribution partners in other states. I was confident that the Schilling team would welcome them with open arms. I also knew that Phil from Almanac would be there and he and Rachel could and would geek out on all things microbes!
This strategy proved to work out just as it was intended!
Oozlefinch and Schilling, (Schilling was recently named the best dark lager brewer in the world by Rate Beer by the way), have become buds and they made a distanced collab together in VA. Rachel's new obsession with lager has led to one of our special releases this week! Dickermann, a Helles Lager, is crisp, clean and refreshing. It utilizes the classic spicy noble hop, Hallertauer Mittelfruh, one of my all time faves! These hops have been largely forgotten by most modern day brewers. Just to take this fun beer to the next level, they have put Jeff and Stu from Schilling and Russ and Rachel on the label all decked out in traditional german garb! This beer is awesome and the label is even better!
The second collab we are offering this week is another Oozlefinch release. Shep knew that Phil and Rachel would become homies because of their respective love for microbiology. They hit it off and the Oozlefinch team went to CA and brewed “Defenders of the Funk” together pre covid. The second round was to be made in VA but travel was shut down so Phil couldn’t make to the Fort. They ended up doing a remote collab and of course they would pick an obscure style and do it their way! The settled on a Bière de Garde which is traditionally a golden or copper French Farmhouse ale that’s brewed during the cold months and lagered for later consumption. Fittingly, these two made Garde Dawgs a black Bière de Garde by adding blackstrap molasses and used a wild harvested lager yeast strain! This beer is dark in color with notes of raisins and toffee but finishes surprisingly nice and dry.
My strategy paid off and Oozlefinch shouldn’t have any problem getting some of our cool kid brewers to come to their next anniversary party as Oozlefinch has become a nationally known darling. I can’t wait to see what other magical collabs are on the horizon from our brewers!