Collaboration

I first had Boulevard's Imperial Pilsner at the beer's release party in Lawrence, Kansas. In case you hadn't heard, this Imperial Pilsner is a collaboration between Boulevard Brewing Company and Orval's master brewer Jean-Marie Rock. Steven Pauwels, Boulevard's brew master, and Rock met at a conference in Tucson last year. It was there that these two Belgians hit it off and agreed to collaborate and resurrect a beer Rock had brewed some 30 years before. The style that beer most closely resembled is what we now call an American Double or Imperial Pilsner.

I was especially proud of finding this bottle of at the liquor store, not because it was particularly rare but because it was on the clearance rank. I'd seen a few bottle of these on the shelves over the holidays but didn't get around to picking one up. Even though the holidays are a month behind us I couldn't pass up getting a bottle of this collaboration for half price. The timing worked out well because just enough time had passed that I was no longer burnt out on holiday seasonal beers. After picking up this bottle I realized something a little strange...

I've been looking forward to this beer ever since it was announced that Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada would be collaborating. I really like the Dogfish Head beers I've had, but I haven't been real crazy about Sierra Nevada's brews. I was anxious to see how Dogfish Head's extreme beer styles would jive with Sierra Nevada's tendencies to just throw a bunch of hops into a bottle and call it beer. Ok, that's a bit harsh... but that's what my experience with Sierra Nevada has been. I finally got the chance to have a glass of Life & Limb on tap and was quite pleasantly surprised.