Blue Mountains brewery Mountain Culture Beer Co has announced a collaboration with American craft brewery Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Being the first Australian brewery to team up with Sierra Nevada, Mountain Culture is celebrating the release of Summer Pale Ale.
The Summer Pale Ale recipe blends the style of the breweries, combining Cascade Hops, a Sierra Nevada signature made famous in their pale ale, with Citra and a mix of Mosaic, BRU-1, and Vic Secret for tropical, floral and citrus notes. For added depth of flavour, the malt blend has been amped up and features Pils, wheat and oats.
The new release sold out online in just one hour, with stock still available through independent retailers and more beer being brewed.
“Sierra Nevada are the godfathers of craft beer,” said DJ McCready, Co-Founder of Mountain Culture Co. “Ken Grossman founded the company in 1980, and he is widely credited as being single-handedly responsible for the launch of the craft beer movement.
“We’re both independently owned, family run businesses. We are both really pushing to make craft beer better, but also to be accessible to new crowds.
“It’s a huge honour to collaborate with them, and we feel that Aussies will love the pale ale we have created, and it really embodies the heart and soul of both breweries.”
The collaboration was born after Steve Grossman, Sierra Nevada Ambassador and brother of the brand’s Founder Ken Grossman, had a taste of Mountain Culture while attending the Great Australian Beer Spectapular (GABS) festival earlier this year.
Sierra Nevada Brewmaster Scott Jennings spoke about the collaboration: “Ken got clued in on how amazing the beers are and what an incredible success story Mountain Culture has had in a short time.
“Ken came back to North Carolina and he said ‘I was just in Australia, and there’s this brewery there. They’re incredibly good and really shaking things up over there.’ We had to do a collaboration, we absolutely had to.
“We wanted to create something special that captures the essence of our companies and delivers what our fans have come to expect from us.
“It’s going to be absolutely delicious. We put a lot of thought into the recipe and put together what I think is going to turn out to be a little bit of the heart and soul of both of our breweries. I’m really looking forward to that first pint.”
“We’ve come together to make this beer,” added McCready. “It’s not going to be the craziest, wackiest beer out there – we’ve designed it to be something that’s really enjoyable and highly drinkable – exactly what you want to reach for on a hot summer’s day.”