(Fort Collins, CO) – Surprise! New Belgium Brewing and Allagash Brewing are collaborating on a new beer.

[12/3 Update: It just hit stores this week. The beer finder indicates that it is only available at a few stores for now. No word yet on the Allagash edition…]

Or make that . . . “new beers.” NBB Brewmaster, Peter Bouckaert, paid the Allagash crew a visit last Tuesday to help brew up the first in a pair of (what appear to be) sour beers between the two breweries. Perkins, along with Allagash Founder/Owner, Rob Tod, will be heading out to New Belgium’s facility in Fort Collins later this month to brew up beer #2. They will be making the same basic beer there as they did last week in Portland with a couple ingredient changes.

Allagash posted some random shots of Brew Day on its Twitter feed (scroll down to the July 27th posts- you don’t have to be a Twitter member to view them). The brew includes Elderberries and Dandelion green additions to the mash.

It hasn’t been announced how the two beers will be packaged or when or where they will be released but at least one of them, New Belgium Vrienden, will join the Lips of Faith Series. Here’s more from the label:

“Get a Belgian Brewmaster and a master of Belgian brewing together and theres sure to be spontaneous imagination that leads to micro-organisms mingling in fermentation.

Allagash and New Belgium are pleased to offer you our collabeeration brewed with the slightly fruity hibiscus flower, the aromatic Brettanomyces, and the flavor-boosting Lactobacillus.

We recommend pairing it with creamy, soft cheeses and charming Vrienden- that’s ‘friends’ in Flemish.”

New Belgium’s label indicates an 8.5% ABV level and that Hibiscus and Endive, sometimes called Chicory, were used. Perhaps those are the different ingredients being used in New Belgium’s version later this month.