What do basketball and craft beer have in common?
Both can put crazed fans on the edges of their seats, both have impassioned enthusiasts, and both are dang competitive.
The latter doesn’t seem too obvious in craft, but the desire of many brewers to make great beers is at the same level for ballers who have their eyes set on winning every single game.
Amid the competition, collaboration beers, often called ‘collab’, have become the lifeblood of local and international craft breweries. Now, you might ask, “Why in the world would brewers team up with their rivals and brew together?”
Michael ‘MJ’ Jordan, Brewmaster of Engkanto, is no stranger to the creative madness of collaboration beers. He’s uncovering the reasons behind collabs, how these unique beers fuel excitement for beer lovers, and finally sharing the remarkable collaborations of Engkanto for the year.
Breaking the mold of bounded ideas
In brewing craft beers, it’s true that brewers are only limited by their imagination. At the same time, it's also true that they're limited by the availability of ingredients and the scale in which they’ll produce the beers.
These confines have become the reason for pioneering craft breweries that include Victory Brewing, Dogfish Head Brewery, and Stone Brewing to work together and make the first-ever collab beers. Brewmaster MJ, a native of Spokane, Washington, have seen these beers spring up from East Coast to West Coast, shattering the limits for many American brewers and paved the way for their growth.
The makings of a collaboration beer at the Engkanto Brewery.
Collab beers make an impact overseas
When Brewmaster MJ flew over to Europe around 2008, he chanced upon Mikkeler in Copenhagen, Denmark, a brewery that’s been known for collaboration beers locally and outside the country. It was when he moved to Shanghai, China and led Boxing Cat Brewery that he reconnected with Mikkeler for Shanghai Beer Week. The result: Bruce ChiLee IPA, a collab beer packs a punch, inspired by no other than the action movie icon.
For him, the idea generated when the brewers got together, and despite their competitive attitude, they wanted to work with unique ingredients and learn new processes. These are among the reasons why collaborating is still exciting even today.
Four breweries working together to represent what craft beer is all about.
The truth about brave craft brewers
Brewmaster MJ took with him the same enthusiasm for collabs when he arrived at Engkanto Brewery. Up against a beverage conglomerate exploiting the term ‘craft beer style’, he teamed up with three local brewers: Fred Calope of Boondocks, Mike Wayne of Papa Bolo, and Raoul Masangcay of Elias, to create True Brew West Coast IPA.
It was a huge moment for Philippine craft beers since collabs haven’t existed in this larger scale. More importantly, the brewers are making a statement. While it might be a little startling for those new to the craft since local brands are known as competitors, these brewers are telling local drinkers what the truth about beer is, and that there’s no such thing as ‘craft beer style’.
Brewers, united: Michael ‘MJ’ Jordan of Engkanto, Fred Calope of Boondocks and Mike Wayne of Papa Bolo.
A heart for international collaboration
Based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Heart of Darkness Brewery is one of the most respected names in Asia. Brewmaster MJ first met with them during his stint in China for Boxing Cat, and they've remained in good connection for years.
Fast forward to Brew Asia’s event in Bangkok, Thailand last year, they’ve reconnected again and became interested in making a collab beer. They’ve eventually decided to take on a black lager beer style that has natural ingredients including ume, a fragrant plum blossom, and osmanthus, an exquisite flower used in tea.
Finally, before the doors opened for Brew Asia 2023 last October, Witch Dance Ume & Osmanthus Black Lager was on feature at the Heart of Darkness taproom in Vietnam. The exquisite beer, served with lechon, a local Filipino delicacy, marks the first international for Engkanto Brewery. The immense value of collaborations among craft breweries even became a hot topic in one of the panel discussions at Brew Asia.
After gaining a strong foothold for international distributions that include Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan, and soon in the UAE and Australia, Team Engkanto is looking forward to more local and international collabs, where beer lovers from all over the world can celebrate locally made, Filipino craft beers.