I must admit upfront: I love Hilliard's beer because Hilliard's loves the art world. I've been to many artsy events where I get to choose between the Blonde, the Saison, and the Amber, (I'll take the Blonde, thanks), which have been donated by the brewery. Do I see these donations as a barely transparent marketing campaign designed to hook a certain demographic of people? Sure, but who cares? The beer's good and the cans look cool. And I don't see Budweiser riding in on their Clydesdales to help people make art in this city.
Recently, however, Hilliard's teamed up with Jameson as part of the liquor company's Drinking Buddies marketing campaign. Jameson chose five craft brewers from the United States, brought them out to their distillery, and then gave them a bunch of old whiskey barrels to use in order to create a new, limited-edition beer. Hilliard's was one of the chosen breweries.
Whenever a beloved local brewer teams up with an international booze giant, the worry is that the quality of the product will be compromised. Somehow the beer will end up tasting like a pile of gold coins. Happily, for drinkers and for Hilliard's, the Jameson Whiskey Barrel-Aged Sour is pretty fuckin' good!
The trouble with sour beers, for me, is that, if you want to enjoy yourself, you can really only have one. They're powerfully flavored and often taste like melted Sweet Tarts. Hilliard's' JWBAS tones down the pucker but still keeps the punch associated with the typically Belgian brew. What Barq's is to other root beers, the JWBAS is to other sours. After a little while, the bubbles settled down and I could start to taste a lot of citrus up front and caramel on the finish.
Last night, the brewery threw a huge party for the launch. After wading through a line of intimidatingly beautiful brand ambassadors from Jameson, I grabbed a beer and indulged in the festivities. There was free food all over the place—pizza from A Fire Inside seemed to be the big hit—and maybe the nicest portable bathrooms I'd ever seen in my life.
The fact that a fun, gorgeous summer party full of local music and local food emerged from the partnership between a neighborhood brewery and a giant company surprised me and made me excited to see similar pairings in the future.