Odell Thornbridge Collaboration – Exclusive Look at Pond Hopper

Odell Brewing is working on a new collaboration brew with Thornbridge Brewery in the UK. Doug and Caolan will be brewing “Pond Hopper Double Extra Pale Ale” here tomorrow. They will debut the beer at SAVOR this year. Here’s some info on the collaboration from Doug:

Our collaboration efforts with Thornbridge Brewery of Bakewell, UK began with a visit to their brewery by Doug in 2008.  He was intrigued by what he had heard about UK Craft Breweries beginning to brew unique styles, and using hops other than the traditional English varieties.  Thorrnbridge was and is clearly going in this direction.

This visit was followed by a collaboration brew by Doug and the Thornbridge brewers in the summer of 2010 at their brewery.  The beer was a take on the Odell Red recipe, brewed with all English malts, and using English hop varieties with the most intense flavor and aromatic qualities.  The result, Colorado Red, was quite popular and was awarded the bronze medal at the 2010 Peterborough UK beer festival in the strong ale category.

The reciprocal collaboration brew will take place at Odell Brewing on February 24th.  Caolan Vaughan, the head brewer and production manager at Thornbridge will travel to Fort Collins to brew a Double Extra Pale Ale with us.  The beer will be packaged in a cork and cage 750 ml bottle, and will be made available in both the United Kingdom, and the Odell distribution area in the United States.

They are using English malts and American hops. Odell only just submitted the label for approval last week, so this graphic is just a draft as of now.