Collaboration has been a part of Siren’s ethos since day one. As part of our 10th anniversary, we took a look back on the list of some 149 breweries and 34 non-breweries we’ve worked with over the years with absolute joy. With a number of new collab brews on the horizon, we thought we’d look at 3 reasons why the craft beer sector relies on working together.
Regional Access
For us smaller independent breweries, craft beer is quite regional. Someone in London is more likely to be drinking a pint of Siren than they are a pint from say, Lakes Brew Co (based in Kendal near the Lake District). But then someone in Leeds is more likely to be drinking Lakes’ beer than ours.
Collaborating is a great way to break down regional barriers and find new fans from further afield. It can open doors and access to markets such as bars, pubs and bottleshops ordinarily hard to reach, or sometimes otherwise completely unattainable.
Learning
Collaborative brewing is exactly that – you work with people from outside of your normal circle and share skills, techniques and recipes. A fantastic point of reference to this is our Time Hops project, from 2022. If you’ve not heard of Time Hops, we took some of the industry’s most “famous” hops, and looked back at the beers that epitomise those hops, and made the name for them. We spoke with the breweries who made those stand out beers, understood their techniques and made tribute versions of those beers ourselves.
The most stand out of that series for many was “Citra/Mosaic”, a nod to The Alchemist’s Focal Banger – the OG New England IPA. Originally, these hazy beers were brewed to retain a level of bitterness, whilst also pushing that huge punch of fresh fruit flavours. This was something we loved and our learnings have become the staple way that we make New England style beers.
Mental Health and fun!
Running a business like a small independent brewery is fraught with problems, and a problem shared is a problem halved. Being able to pick up the phone and discuss this with others in the same situation is a massive help to our founder, Darron.
There’s also the inspiration or excuse to do some things a bit outside the box, the “not normal” side of brewing. Collab beers allow us to bring some of what the other brewery represents to Finchampstead. With the recent release of “Send Me More Sunshine”, a collab with Slim Pickens from Florida, we’re bringing the Floridian sunshine in the form of 1.2 tonnes of Mango!
Collab days often come with a shared eating experience, like a tonne of pizzas, too much curry (stop ordering 30 tubs of the green stuff, Darron) or my favourite – BBQ. Local collaborations are amazing for this, like when we brew with Double Barrelled, we’re near enough for both teams to all get together at once. It’s a great day.
