Houston and Dallas have had somewhat of an odd rivalry over the years. The most hotly contested debate today is likely which city is a better sports town. The Astros’ most recent success – cheating scandal aside – has pretty much put the nail in the coffin, in my humble opinion. I guess Cowboys fans will bring up those Super Bowls the cowboys won like twenty-four years ago…

But it is not in the spirit of rivalry that I sat down to write this. Today is about collaboration. More specifically, it is about a Houston and Dallas beer collaboration.

If you read our website, you are probably into Texas craft beer and you have likely heard of Laser Brewing and Secret Beach Inspired Ales which are the homebrew projects of Chris Anderson and Jamey Moore respectively. These guys have collaborated before and made a damn fine beer by the way, but this time, Jamey reached out to another brewery that he has had his eyes on for a while in Celestial Beerworks in Dallas.

Jamey told me that his experience reaching out to Matt at Celestial Beerworks progressed much quicker than he expected. Turns out, Chris and Matt had known each other from a homebrew festival that they had both participated in a few years ago. After hearing about the possibility of the collab, I was not surprised as all these brewers brew some pretty similar beers and all have a very good reputation. Knowing that it was easy to see why Matt was all in.

The beer, The Color of Math, is a Double IPA Strata, Galaxy and Cryo Ekuanot hops. Matt (Owner and Brewer) and Jorge (Brewer) let Chris and Jamey take a big role in developing the recipe – basically giving them free rein of the malt and hops they had in stock – and physically brewing the beer.

Knowing these brewers, seeing the hops in the brew and after witnessing the beer being brewed, I have some pretty high expectations for this beer. Celestial has a brewhouse that is less automated than many breweries, making the consistency of their beer all the more impressive. Everyone involved in the brewing of the beer was highly involved. I can tell you that this is not always the case in beer collaborations.

I have always been a fan of the Celestial can art, and this one is no different. According to Molly (Owner and Art Director for Celestial), they try to keep all their beer names in the “nerd” vein of science, space, history, and art.

I know Jamey and Chris were very appreciative of the entire team at Celestial, especially Matt and Molly, Jorge (Brewer) and Travis (Cellerman and Assistant Brewer).

The release will be this Saturday, January 25th at Celestial. I highly recommend you make it to the brewery for the release. Celestial normally holds their releases on Thursdays, but to accommodate any Houstonians that might want to attend the release, it was moved to Saturday. Since Saturdays are normally busy days at most Texas breweries, I recommend you plan on arriving when Celestial opens at 12pm.

Whether you fly or drive, please do so safely. There are plenty of hotel options around Celestial (near Dallas Love Field Airport), but you might also take the opportunity to make a weekend of the trip and check out another brewery or two over the weekend.

I hope to see you at Celestial Beerworks on Saturday. All the cool kids will be there!