When a Kentucky brewery was in Massachusetts for a beer festival in the winter, its employees poked fun at the typically hazy New England-style IPAs with a booth asking people what ingredients they should add to make their IPA more New England-friendly.
“We thought it was a cute joke,” said Jack’s Abby co-founder Jack Hendler.
What began as a joke, however, blossomed into a collaboration that had Jack’s Abby spinoff Springdale Beer and Louisville-based Against the Grain Brewery creating a completely clear IPA dubbed Any IPA.
“We said, ‘Well, why don’t we try to do the opposite and make a crystal clear beer,’” Hendler said. “It smells and tastes just like a New England IPA.”
Hendler declined to reveal the trade secrets that made the beer so clear, but he did say it took extensive research and experimenting, including an entire batch that had to be dumped — about 1,500 gallons of beer.
The beer has been brewed both in Framingham and Louisville, and both breweries have begun distribution last week.
The beer is the first canned collaboration for Springdale, which operates a brewery directly next to Jack’s Abby.
Another upcoming collaboration for Springdale is a project with an Oregon-based meadery to produce a honey barrel-aged saison beer.
That product is being launched in Oregon this week, and it will hit New England shelves later this month, Hendler said.
