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Monk’s Cafe – Photo by Jason Smith for GPTMC

Everyone knows that when it comes to beer, two heads are always better than one (get it?). That’s why Monks is offering a tasting of the best brewery collaborations. These are some of the greatest beer minds in the world. So when they collaborate, watch out.

The first beer offered is fittingly called Collaboration Not Litigation, from Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing and Adam Avery of Avery Brewing. This strong, dark Belgian, as its name suggests, is the result of a collaboration instead of a litigation. When the two brewers realized that they each had a beer called Salvation in their line-up, the showdown could have gone one of two ways. Lucky for us, these two were able to combine the flavors of their respective Salvations and create an even more complex libation.

Created, as the best collaborations usually are, completely out of mutual respect, the second beer of the night, Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen-Weisse, is a mashup of tastes from Brooklyn’s East India Pale Ale and Schneider’s Weisse beer. Brewmasters Garrett Oliver and Hans-Peter Drexler decided to brew the same beer but swap breweries and use the hops inside…

More after the jump!

Tomme Arthur of Port Brewing and Lost Abbey fame is a brewer without a country. Currently, his beers can only be obtained by traveling to Texas. So if you want to try this highly lauded brewer’s work, you can head for the Lonestar State or just head around the corner to Monks. Because Tomme’s collaboration with Belgian masters De Proef, known simply as Signature Ale is also pouring this weekend. A fruity, well-hopped and complex Belgian-style ale, the Signature is sure to leave its mark.

If you are still hooked on Tomme Arthur, you can also try his collaboration with Hildegard van Ostaden of Urthel. The result is a California-style Saison.

De Proef has also not stopped with Tomme. They also collaborated with Jason Perkins of Allagash to create Les Deux Brasseurs (The Two Brewers), a strong Belgian Pale Ale with a lot of fruit notes and a little hoppy bitterness.

This event is chock full of rare and limited edition beers you are not likely to see anywhere else this week. So come out and see why two heads are always better than one.

Monks Belgian Cafe
264 S 16th St, Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215) 545-7005
www.monkscafe.com