[3/3 Update: From Stan Hieronymus: “Each year the Craft Brewers Conference welcome pack include a Symposium beer. For instance, when it was last in Portland, Rogue brewed a beer it called Charlie and then made a regular. New Glarus Eisbock was first brewed for CBC in Milwaukee. Not sure what the tradition dates to […] Same with the National Homebrewers Conference.”]

(Chicago, IL) – Heartwood Symposium Ale, a collaboration of fifteen Illinois breweries is coming out early next month.

Distribution info, if even applicable, should surface in the coming days. Someone with knowledge of the project said that the beer will be provide to attendees of the Craft Brewers Conference and will be available on draft in Chicago during that week. Take that for what it’s worth. For now, here is the label description/info:

“Heartwood Symposium Ale was brewed to commemorate the Brewers Association’s Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America, April 7-10 2010 Chicago, Illinois.

This ale celebrates the Midwest as the birthplace of bourbon barrel-aged American Craft Beer [started by Goose Island Brewmaster, Greg Hall, with Bourbon County Stout in 1992]. Brewers from fifteen Illinois breweries formed four teams, each creating a recipe and brewing it at Goose Island Beer Co: Imperial Stout, Imperial IPA, Scotch Style Wee Heavy and a Barley Wine Style Ale. All were aged separately in Bourbon barrels. The resulting Symposium ale is our taste-tested blend of all four batches.”

100% aged in Bourbon Barrels and 10.5% ABV. The infamous Randy Mosher did the artwork for this one.

Collaborating brewers:

America’s Brewpub
Destihl Restaurant and Beer Works
Emmett’s Tavern and Brewing Co.
Flossmoor Station Restaurant and Brewery
Goose Island Brewpub
Goose Island Beer Co.
Gordon Biersch Bolingbrook
Half Acre Beer Co.
Lunar Brewing
Mickey Finn’s Brewery
Piece Brewery and Pizzeria
Revolution Brewing
Rock Bottom Downtown
Rock Bottom Lombard
Rock Bottom Orland Park
Rock Bottom Warrenville
Three Floyds Brewing