Developing new recipes for a brewery is a highly creative profession, and like it or not, creativity can’t flourish in a vacuum. But Base Camp Brewing Co.’s approach to cultivating different influences may be more extreme than most. Their third annual Collabofest is the only festival that presents an all-collaborative lineup, and goes down tomorrow at the brewery. Moreover, each of the 16 breweries was paired with another via lottery, instead of by prior arrangement.
On Wednesday evening, Base Camp’s popular patio was covered and heated for media to preview the 16 beers produced for the festival. Some of our favorites included Alameda Brewing’s Coffee and Donutella, which was produced with StormBreaker Brewing. Both breweries opted to work with local coffee and donut shops as well as each other. Alameda’s version was a pale gold pale ale, whose light appearance belied its incredibly rich and sensuous coffee-and-hazelnuts aroma.
Culmination and Widmer opted to riff on each other’s signature beers. Culmination’s Zen Wave Weizen was a hoppy take on Widmer’s iconic American hefe, using Mandarina Bavaria, El Dorado, Cascade and Citra hops to create a punchy, floral and fragrant beer. Gigantic Brewing and Uptown Market played off the theme of oysters and oyster mushrooms, and Gigantic’s Nevørmind oyster stout leavened the heavy dark roasts of the malt with the astringent brininess of 12 dozen oysters.
Finally, Ecliptic Brewing took the Space Mountain IPA brewed by Mount Tabor Brewing, with fresh raspberry and peach puree and Mosaic, Galaxy and Nelson hops, and slightly soured it to fantastic effect. The original beer was tweaked and brightened by souring with lactobacillus.
It was fascinating to see how each pair of breweries decided to collaborate, using their different facilities and philosophical approaches — whether by doing variations on a common theme; allowing each other access to their recipes; or even, as Ecliptic and Mount Tabor did, by creating different versions of the same beer.
In keeping with Base Camp’s outdoorsy mission, this year’s nonprofit beneficiaries are SheJumps, an organization dedicated to increasing girls participation in outdoor sports, and the Oregon Timber Trail, which is a nonprofit dedicated to improving and maintaining a series of singletrack trails that, together, trace a 650-mile route across the state of Oregon.
Collabofest will be held at Base Camp Brewing on Saturday, Jan. 28, with VIPs allowed admission from 1-2 p.m. and general admission from 2-8 p.m. Tickets range from $25-$40 and include a festival mug, Collabofest passport and tasting tickets. Come taste the creativity!
