There’s a press release that came through last week that has me excited: Deschutes Brewery and Hair of the Dog are collaborating (for the first time ever for both of them) on a beer that will be released in 2011:

[Hair of the Dog’s Alan] Sprints came over to Bend in early March to brew two of his beers at the Deschutes Brewery brewhouse. Then it was Deschutes Brewery brewmaster Larry Sidor’s turn to brew two of his own beers. These four beers (which will remain unnamed as yet) will be aged in various wood barrels and then blended together sometime in early 2011 in a ratio yet to be determined as part of the creative process. Over the next several months, Hair of the Dog and Deschutes Brewery will be meeting to sample the aging beer and contemplate the blending process.

It may not generate as much fanfare as the Stone collaborations but this is big. I’ve often thought it would be cool to see Deschutes do a collaboration brew, and now we get two of the best breweries in Oregon putting together a wood-aged, blended beer… I can’t wait to hear more about this one.

Also on the topic of collaborations: remember that The Session is coming up this Friday the 7th on that very topic.