Bend, Oregon’s Deschutes Brewery and Kansas City, Missouri’s Boulevard Brewing Company collaborate on a White I.P.A.

Deschutes Brewery and Boulevard Brewing Company today announced that they will release two versions of a new collaboration beer later this summer. The style, which is described by brewmasters Steven Pauwels of Boulevard and Larry Sidor of Deschutes as a White IPA, combines Boulevard’s expertise in making Belgian-style witbiers with Deschutes’ affinity for infusing bold and aromatic hop character into their beers. The forthcoming White IPA will be made at both breweries and released simultaneously throughout each of their distribution territories. This comes as little surprise considering Deschutes has exemplified an interest in playing around with various wheat bills in their one-off taphouse specials such as the 31-25 Hefe, 20th Anniversary Wit, Whistlestop Wheat, Wychick Wheat, Mt. Wolf Witbier, and particularly the WIPA (Commercial description: Wheat and hops, two things we love. Introduce yourself to a wheat beer with a pumped up hop nose and flavor. No reason to add citrus here it’s brewed into the beer).

“To say we’re excited about working with Deschutes on this project would be an understatement,” said Pauwels. “We have a lot of respect for Larry and his team, and we look forward to sharing our knowledge with them through the collaborative process.”

Pauwels and Sidor began exploring the idea of brewing together after crossing paths several times at craft beer events around the country. The brewers discovered they had much in common in their brewing philosophies, both pushing the envelope whenever possible, yet remaining dedicated to the time-honored traditions that keep them consistent and grounded.

“It will be interesting to see how similar the brews turn out despite being brewed more than 1,600 miles apart,” said Sidor. “That’s part of the fun of working together with a brewery like Boulevard. We both use the latest technologies but also stay true to traditional brewing ingredients and methods.”

Despite both beers being characterized as White I.P.A.s, there will be differences in packaging and in how they will ultimately taste. Brewed at their Bend, Oregon facility, Deschutes’ version will be the second beer in their new Conflux collaboration series and will be distributed throughout their 18-state region in kegs and 22-ounce bottles. Their first collaboration, brewed with Hair of the Dog Brewing Company, is still aging in wood barrels.

Boulevard’s version, christened Collaboration No. 2, will be distributed throughout their 20-state region as part of the Smokestack Series seasonal lineup in kegs and 750ml bottles. The brewery’s first collaboration, a partnership with distinguished Belgian brewer Jean-Marie Rock, was released in January of 2010.