In 2008 we'd been selling contract brewed beer for a while and were in the throws of building a brewery. Matt stepped away and traveled to Boston for the Craft Brewers Conference. During his stay, Dan and Dave from Maine Beer Company came across Matt roaming the conference. They called him over and realized that they were all going through the same challenges trying to erect a new brewery. Time had us both finding our legs and landing on solid footing.

Recently, Maine Beer Co started moving some beer to Chicago so they flew out to make beer with us. Collaboration beers boil down to enjoyment spiked with the opportunity to learn. Dan and Dave came to visit our brewery after nailing down a recipe. We discussed approach, what's happening in our local and national brewing worlds, ate great meals and the beer was brewed. In the fall we'll travel east and spend time in their world, which is drastically different from our own.

All said, we're lifting our heads up from our work to dig into someone else's perspective and experience. As breweries, we make beer in much the same way, but have sharp contrast in our visual ends. This time, the result will be a hoppy session ale worked up from a joint recipe that was named and designed by Maine Beer Co. In the fall, we'll again work on the recipe together, but Half Acre will name and design their beer.