CollaBeeration Fest is a beer festival literally unlike any other, one that truly unites the ties that bind our vibrant craft beer community here in Western New York, and beyond.  It’s a festival made for beer geeks, and brewed by beer geeks. Now in its four year (save for that pesky pandemic), CollaBeeration 4.0 takes place April 13 (1-5pm) at the Powerhouse (140 Lee St, Buffalo).

Here’s the premise, and it’s about as unique as they come. The beverage list is comprised solely of beers, ciders and meads created from inception by members of the Buffalo Beer Geeks community, who teamed up with over 40 Western New York craft breweries, cideries and meaderies to create one-off, small batch creations, many created exclusively for this event.

There are limited general admission tickets still available, which include unlimited pours and a commemorative glass. Designated driver tickets are also available for $10.

The full list of collaborative beers has been announced:

  • Heroes Brewing – Macho Mango Randy Savage (Medium to light bodied double cream ale with hints of mango and vanilla)
  • Resurgence Brewing – Turnbuckle Cream Ale (Traditional cream ale, light bodied and crushable. Loaded with flaked corn and wheat in the mash, fruity with a touch of herbal bitterness from the mix of traditional American and German Hops)
  • Windy Brew – Stone Cold IPA (Dry hopped IPA w/ Alora, Eureka and Bravo hops)
  • Frequentem – Linzer Tort(ure) Tap Out (Kettle Soured IPA with raspberry, lemon, vanilla, and almond)
  • Sad Boys Brewing – Tiddhy Twister (Dry Hopped Pale Ale, brewed with simple pale ale and touch of Munich dry hopped with Cascade and Citra)
  • Rising Storm – The Fabulous Moolah Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake Sour (Sour IPA conditioned on chocolate, strawberry and cheesecake powder)
  • Pressure Drop Brewing – Asai Lager (Light lager with kafir, lime and spirulina)
  • Lafayette Brewing  – Cheap Heat (IPL with ancho chilies and honey)
  • Prison City – Chai Me and Find Out (American Stout with Chai Tea with notes of Ginger, Cinnamon, Clove, and cardamom)
  • Big Ditch Brewing – Purple Nurple (Hard bubble tea with jasmine, taro, and passion fruit)
  • Brazen Brewing – Under Shaker (Cherry Vanilla Milkshake IPA)
  • Meier’s Creek – PBJ with the Crust Cut Off (PBJ Cask Irish Red Ale with Concord grape juice and peanut butter powder)
  • Pod City Brew Labs – All Juiced Up (German Hefeweizen flavored with your choice of juice)
  • Strangebird – D-Von Get the Tables! (Barrel fermented saison pretending to be an Imperial Table Beer. Their pink peppercorn saison base aged in oak barrels adjuncted with orange peels and rose hips)
  • Beer Justice – Barrister Blonde (Blonde stout with cherry, vanilla and coconut)
  • Hamburg Brewing – Montreal Maple Job & British Rye Dog (Canadian Pilsner conditioned on maple syrup aged bourbon barrels & a British Rye Pale Ale)
  • Queen City Meadery – Atomic Slam Jam (Wildflower honey, Concord grapes and real peanuts (not peanut flavoring)
  • 1927 Brewhouse – Survivor Pear-ies (Spiced Pear Cocktail Sour)
  • Community Beer Works – Happy Collabeeration Day to Everyone Except That Jabroni Hulk Hogan (Peach Mango Strawberry Vanilla Marshmallow Sour IPA)
  • Wagner Valley – Black Moon Rise (Pitch-black Berliner Style Kettle Sour with flavors of raspberry, chocolate, vanilla, and hints of pine (Collab with Scale House Brewing))

  • BriarBrothers Brewing – Attitude Adjustment (Blonde Stout infused with Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee with the option to infuse with blueberry maple or banana hazelnut)
  • Old First Ward – Mean Gene McCarthy’s Passionfruit PIE-L Driver (Passionfruit, graham cracker/coconut crust pie sour)
  • Eli Fish Brewing – Unfortunately, the Vibe is Continuing to Deteriorate (Rice Lager with Yuzu, Myoga and Hinoki Cypress)
  • Bee Spit Meadery – Superfly (Mango Key Lime Pie Draft Mead)
  • Lilly Belle Meads – Lady Aprihops (Semi-Dry Mead made with Lady Green tea, blood orange, apricots, nectaron and giggle hops & little spring honey)
  • OSB Ciderworks – Blood Orange Slam & Dragon “Freaking” Lychee (Dragon Fruit Cider & Blood Orange Cider)
  • Noble Shepherd – Spanish Announce Table (Pineapple Churro Sour conditioned on grilled pineapple, toasted coconut, marshmallow, cinnamon & puff pastry)
  • New York Beer Project – Faces of Foley (Cactus Jack, a blue raspberry creamsicle flavored Kolsch, Mankind, a grape creamsicle flavored Kolsch, Dude Love, a blend of the two)
  • Spotted Octopus – Lucha Leche (Horchata White Stout with cinnamon, vanilla and milk sugar)
  • Prosper Brewing – Black Eye IPA (Black Rye IPA. West Coast based IPA with a slight spice from the Rye Malt)
  • Illumination Meadery – You Can’t See Mead (Gluten free cereal inspired mead with Palmetto Blossom honey, Fruity Pebbles, and dairy free ice cream powder)
  • Brewery Ardennes – Guava Libra (Guava & blood orange dry hopped sour)
  • Mystic Hills – Hulk Hoganweissen (Hopfenweisse: German Hefeweizen meets American IPA)
  • Shalooby Loofer – The Big Beet Down (Hefeweizen with beets, coriander, and honey)
  • Sager Beer Works – Mr. Socko’s Saison (Belgian-inspired blonde with ginger and blood orange)
  • Buffalo Olde Brewing – Captain Charisma (Cold IPA)
  • Fairport Brewing – Beast from the East (Bourbon Barrel Aged imperial stout, then aged on smoked jalapeño)
  • One-Eyed Cat Brewing – Blood, Sweat and Beers (Beet Gose)
  • K2 Brothers – Sour Slam: Strawberry Smackdown Edition (Blow Pop inspired fruited sour features strawberry puree up front and a hint of bubble gum once you get to the center)
  • Wayland Brewing – “Parts Unknown” Thai Gose (Thai Gose sour ale made with calamansi, ginger, lime leaf, coriander, and salt)
  • Thin Man Brewery – “Barrel Roll” BBA Stout (100% barrel-aged blend of Barleywine, Awesome Jenkins, Adambier and Willet Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout)
  • Blood Brothers Brewing – Stone Fruit Steve Austin Sour (Cherry/Blackberry sour)
  • Steel Leaf Brewing – Ultimate Strawberry Lemonade Warrior Pils (Light crispy boi Pilsner with loads of strawberry, lemons and fierceness)
  • Southern Tier Brewing – Banzai Drop (Black Japanese rice lager)
  • Steelbound – Rowdy Roddy Pepper (Jalapeño Kolsch fruited with pineapple, mango, strawberry & passion fruit)
  • Butera’s Village Brew House – Let’s Get Ready to Stumble (spicy chocolate stout with spiciness of 4 different hot peppers and Saigon Cassa cinnamon)
  • BlackBird Cider Works – TBD

“CollaBEERation IV is upon us and this is our biggest year yet with 47 breweries, meaderies and cideries doing a collab with over 200 members of our Buffalo Beer Geek community,” Joe Yager from the Buffalo Beer Geeks says. “We also have a handful of guest breweries, 10 vendors selling unique merchandise and a crazier VIP section than last year. We will have multiple food options as well including BBQ, pizza pods and two food trucks.”

Attendees are also asked to vote on their top 3 collaborations, with the winning collaborators receiving the coveted “Buffalo Beer Geek Championship Belt.” Noble Shephard, from Bloomfield, come into the event as the defending champions.

“New this year is we began doing unique rotating overall themes that all of the collab names and creations can be based around,” Yager continues. “This year’s theme is “wrestling” and we have all sorts of exciting things like a mini wrestling ring photo booth, an actual pro wrestler owned brewery pouring at the event and themed collab drinks, like first timers to the festival Blood Brother’s (Toronto) Stone Fruit Steve Austin Sour, Butera Village Brew House Let’s Get Ready to Stumble Stout, Illumination Meadery’s You Can’t See Mead (Fruity Pebbles mead), and last year’s winner, Noble Shepherd, and their Spanish Announce Table (pineapple churro sour), just to name a few. So if you’d like to try these and 43 other wonderful collabs plus plenty of more surprises, get your tickets now before they sell out…if you smelllllll, what the Buffalo Beer Geeks are brewing.”

There will also be food and craft beer vendors on hand.

Erik Coleman, proprietor of Beer By Coleman Beer Concierge, who is presenting the event, says that CollaBEERation, especially this year’s iteration of the festival, offers something for everyone.

“This year’s CollaBEERation Fest is probably the most unique one yet!” he says. “Joe [Yager] and his team came up with this fun wrestling concept and [it was incredible to] go out and brew these fun themed concoctions! As far as the beers, there are some really interesting (crazy) concepts! Like a bubble tea, a cocktail sour, and the list goes on. There’s something for everyone, including a sold out insane VIP line up!”

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/collabeeration. You can purchase tickets here.

Brian Campbell is co-founder and Brand Manager of the Buffalo Beer League, and writes the weekly Buffalo Beer Buzz column. If you have beer news that should be included in the Beer Buzz, Brian can be reached at brian@buffalobeerleague.com, on Twitter (@buffbeerleague), Instagram (@buffalobeerleague), and Facebook (@thebuffalobeerleague).