A Joint Adventure; New Belgium and Elysian Share Breweries

A Joint Adventure; New Belgium and Elysian Share Breweries

New Belgium Brewing, of Fort Collins, Colo., and Elysian Brewing Company, of Seattle, announced Friday that they were entering a partnership in which both breweries would serve as a second home of sorts to the other's brewers in a new model within the craft brewing industry.

The two breweries called the new partnership an "artisanal collaboration," saying it will allow their brewing teams to use each other's brewhouses while remaining independently owned enterprises.

"By coming together, New Belgium and Elysian have the ability to increase efficiency, encourage creative experimentation, and take a bold collaborative step into the future of American craft brewing," the breweries' representatives said in a news release Friday.

According to the news release, the collaboration will provide Elysian the opportunity to make bigger batches at the New Belgium brewhouse, and will assist the Seattle brewery in its distribution endeavors as it reaches out to new U.S. markets. Elysian recently entered the New York market, for example.

New Belgium representatives said that brewing in smaller batches at Elysian will allow them to expand their experimental beer innovations, such as their Lips of Faith series, while getting closer to their
customers in the "fertile Pacific Northwest brewing scene."

"With mutual love of interesting beer as the primary driver, this alliance doesn't appear to fall into any typical business stratagem,"
the breweries said in the news release. "As the craft brewing scene evolves, adventures such as this may soon become commonplace as groups of brewers utilize each others' strengths to bring world-class beers to an expanding audience while staying true to the spirit and origins of the craft brewing movement."