Collaboration beers are commonplace in America’s craft beer industry as the combination of talents between breweries often results in a memorable product. Today, collaboration beers have expanded to include businesses outside of malt beverages and one such partnership is already brewing in Michigan as Elk Brewing and Old Orchard Brands combine ingredients to produce two new, fruit- accented beers.
Old Orchard is one of America’s best- known and most respected producer of fruit juice concentrates and since the company is also located in Michigan, it made for the perfect short- distance partnership for Elk Brewing. The new beers, Watermelon Cucumber and Blueberry Cucumber are both brewed using Old Orchard’s fruit juice concentrates and both will be brewed in the Gose style. The beer will be sold on tap at both Elk Brewing Grand Rapids locations and will also be packaged in cans throughout the summer.
These beers do not represent the first time Elk brewing has partnered with Old Orchard. Many Elk Brewing fans are already familiar with Elk PB & J’Ale’Y, a beer brewed using Old Orchard’s own grape juice concentrate. According to Elk Brewing owner Eric Karns, the new Gose style beers represent an expansion of the existing partnership in a new, creative direction.
“Elk Brewing has been focused on creativity since the beginning,” said Karns. “The new Gose flavors we’ve released this summer highlight our ability to bring unique, quality craft beer to West Michigan and beyond, and it underscores our desire to pair with local partners to bring these concepts to life.”
Chris Kohler, Director of Purchasing for Old Orchard, says the push for more unique and unusual craft beers has led many breweries to seek out his company’s fruit juice concentrates.
“The calls from brew masters buying our juice concentrates in bulk have increased dramatically in the past 12 months,” says Kohler. “They had discovered our frozen juice concentrates at retail grocery stores and were buying all of the cans off the shelf for use in their beers and wines. We’ve since introduced a program to allow these brewers to buy in bulk from us directly.”
Due to the sharp increase in demand for Old Orchard juice concentrates, the company has established a dedicated web page where brewers can browse for juices and make purchases online. Kohler welcomes the opportunity to expand Old Orchard fruit juice use in fun, unique ways.
“It’s fun to see local breweries like Elk using our juice concentrates in truly innovative ways, and we are excited to witness the growth and success of craft brewing right here in Michigan,” said Kohler.
Elk Brewing will offer both of the new Gose beers on tap at each of its Michigan tap room locations throughout the summer. For more information on Elk Brewing and its products, visit online at http://elkbrewing.com. For information on Old Orchard Brands, visit https://oldorchard.com.
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