Bill Covaleski, president and brewmaster at Victory Brewing Company in Downington, Pennsylvania, first thought about pitching a Pilsner as the style to pursue when Sierra Nevada suggested a collaboration for their Beer Camp Across America 12-Pack. But he eventually had a change of heart.
“A collaborative Pilsner from our two breweries is almost expected,” Covaleski says, “when the craft beer community sees the two of us in the sandbox. Altbier is a style of beer that is often overlooked. [Victory] wanted to give a national focus to a beer that’s not played out very well.”
“One of the things we recognized in the opportunity to work with Sierra Nevada,” Covaleski continues, “was that it is a classic, essential American craft brewery that pays attention to German traditions, equipment, and techniques. It doesn’t scream Germanic brewery, though.”
So in an effort to showcase their inner Germanophiles, Victory and Sierra Nevada created The Alt Route. This beer is Victory and Sierra Nevada’s collective take on the old-school German altbier style—featuring a top-fermenting ale-lager hybrid yeast and fermented at cool temperatures for a clean lager flavor. It’s amber-colored and malt-forward with a dry finish, balanced with Summit, Liberty, and Mt. Hood hops.
“Sierra Nevada created a very open-ended and collaborative platform, and I think they were wise in their selection of brewers because everyone came into the room with the same idea: this is an opportunity,” says Covaleski. Together Victory and eleven other breweries created “twelve visions of what American craft beer is,” he continues. “We tried to give the audience the ultimate experience.”