Craft beer is thought of as a very local product. At your neighborhood bar you’re far more likely to encounter beers from your region on tap. Sure, you can find Victory beer in California, but you’re more likely to find Stone. I write about the importance of this local and community aspect of breweries a lot on this site. The scale that craft brewers work on encourages local consumption. But what if a consumer wants to try something a little more exotic?

In the last few years, a new trend has taken hold – major American craft breweries have been teaming up with their European counterparts to create intercontinental collaboration beers. Two of the most notable examples are New Belgium Brewery working with Brewerij Boon in Belgium to create Transaltantique Kriek and Stone Brewery collaborating with BrewDog in Scotland to create Bashah. These products offer a new spin on two categories: American craft beer collaborations and imports. To each of their standard consumers, these beers offer a taste of the exotic. Fans of New Belgium can try a beer made at one of the breweries that Jeff visited on his bicycle trip (which inspired the creation of New Belgium). With BrewDog and Stone’s partnership, Scottish beer fanatics can now try a beer from an American legend that is brewed locally instead of being shipped all the way from Southern California.

These intercontinental collaborations have become a great tool for breweries to introduce themselves to new audiences. With the news that Stone is looking to open a brewery in Europe, what better way to build brand familiarity than by teaming up with one of the most beloved craft breweries in the UK?

Collaboration has always been a predominant theme in craft brewing. Despite the fact that many craft breweries are competitors with one another, the sense of camaraderie and community exhibited by the industry is second to none. Perhaps transatlantic collaboration is the next step in this progression.

What other industries could benefit from international collaboration?