Samuel Adams has released Time Hop Porter, a limited-edition hopped porter brewed with San Diego-based brewery ChuckAlek Independent Brewers.
The collaboration beer is the culmination of a year-long program, the Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream Brewing and Business Experienceship, which provides one craft brewer annually with hands-on brewing and business coaching. Sam Adams established the program to help small craft breweries get a leg-up in the industry they helped pioneer over 30 years ago.
As part of the 2015 Experienceship, Samuel Adams brewers collaborated with Grant Fraley and Marta Jankowska, brewers and founders of ChuckAlek Independent Brewers, on a unique brew inspired by Grant and Marta's mission of creating "Old School Beers for New School Palates." What resulted is Time Hop Porter. At 5.3% abv, the unique porter is brewed with a blend of malts to create a roasted flavor that is complemented by the citrus notes and pine character of the hops blend and with a delicate bitter finish.
Starting the week of August 31st, Time Hop Porter will be available in select bars and restaurants in and around San Diego, and also served at the Samuel Adams Boston Brewery as well as at ChuckAlek's tasting room. A list of bars and restaurants serving Time Hop Porter will be available at blog.samueladams.com.
"ChuckAlek is a terrific brewery with great potential, and it was a pleasure working with both Grant and Marta," said Samuel Adams founder and brewer Jim Koch. "We're looking forward to welcoming more craft brewers into our Brewing the American Dream Brewing and Business Experienceship to continue to support our shared passion - making delicious, flavorful craft beer."
"Our time in Boston with the Sam Adams team was amazing - we had a great time brewing this delicious beer and the coaching we received as part of the Experienceship was really the highlight," said Marta Jankowska, who also serves as ChuckAlek's CEO. "We learned so much about business planning and moving our company forward in the few days we had in Boston with the Sam Adams team. The advice and mentoring is already having a positive impact on our business as we look toward opening our next tasting room."
The Brewing and Business Experienceship is similar to an extended internship that is tailored to the selected brewery's business needs. In addition to brewing a collaboration beer, the Experienceship includes a trip to the Samuel Adams Boston Brewery to receive coaching by Samuel Adams experts in a variety of areas such as ingredients procurement, labeling and compliance, and sales and distribution. The program also provides access to and funding for industry events of the brewer's choice.
The Experienceship is part of Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream, the brewer's philanthropy program that supports small craft food and beverage businesses. Brewing the American Dream provides a unique combination of the two things Jim Koch wished he had when starting Sam Adams 31 years ago: access to capital and expert business advice. The Experienceship was created specifically for craft brewers who have received microloans through the program. In addition to ChuckAlek Independent Brewers, Brewery Rickoli in Colorado, MateVeza in San Francisco, Calif. and Roc Brewing Co. in Rochester, N.Y. have participated in the Brewing and Business Experienceship.
The Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream program was launched in partnership with Accion, the nation's leading nonprofit provider of small business capital and coaching. Since 2008, through the support of Brewing the American Dream, Accion has lent more than $6.4 million to 625 small food and beverage businesses. Just as important, the program has coached or mentored over 5,000 businesses and created or saved more than 2,600 jobs.
