Collaboration beers are all the rage in the craft brewing world right now, and with the Brewers Association's annual Craft Brewers Conference coming up next month (April 7-10) in Chicago, a new one time only beer will make an appearance as the ultimate Windy City collaborative effort.
Heartwood Symposium Ale was brewed by members of the Illinois Craft Brewers guild at Chicago's own Goose Island Beer Company. It is 100% Aged in Bourbon Barrels and, according to the print on the label is the result of 15 Illinois breweries which "formed four teams, each creating a recipe and brewing it at Goose Island Beer Co: Imperial Stout, Imperial IPA, Scotch Style Wee Heavy and a Barley Wine Style Ale." These were all aged separately in Bourbon barrels and then blended into the beer that will be presented at the conference.
This sounds like an amazing project. I'd sure love to get my hands on some, and I'm sure most of you would too, but good luck in your quest. The Symposium beers are typically tiny batch offerings that are bottled and given only to conference attendees and perhaps some members of the local press, so coming across one for non-attendees will be next to impossible.
Beer, Hopback, Craft Brewers Conference, Chicago, collaboration, Goose Island, term one, Heartwood Symposium Ale
