Terrapin Welcomes New Belgium Brewing for Collaboration Brew

From Terrapin & New Belgium:

Terrapin Beer Co. will welcome New Belgium Brewing brewmaster Peter Bouckaert into their facility for a collaborative brew on December 11, 2014.Black is the New Wit Imperial Black Rye Wit is a traditional Belgian wit brewed with Terrapin brewmaster Spike’s signature rye malt. The addition of black wheat and dehusked roasted barley in the mash gives the beer its unusually dark color.

“Peter and I have been wanting to do a collaboration for about three years now,” said Terrapin’s Brian “Spike” Buckowski. “We originally wanted to brew something with muscadine, but the timing didn’t line up right. We kicked around a couple of ideas like a Baltic porter that didn’t really have a dark color, but got its dark flavor from wood.  From that popped out the idea of doing an imperial black wit brewed with rye and aged on cedar.”

The first edition of Black is the New Wit was brewed on October 20 when Spike travelled to Ft. Collins, CO to brew with Bouckaert at New Belgium Brewing. Both versions of the beer will be virtually the same with the exception of the wood used for aging. New Belgium’s brew is being aged on cedar, whereas the Terrapin brew will be aged on sassafras.