What happens when Iron Heart teams up with Black Hog? You get Iron Hog. A wet hop IPA with locally sourced New Jersey hops and canned fresh for your consumption by Black Hog Brewing . We were on hand from the harvest to the canning and have much to share with you. This is one of the neatest projects we have ever worked on and one of the coolest collaboration beers ever. Enjoy the film and all the photos.
DAY 1 – HARVEST
Day one brought us to Alpha, New Jersey. It is here that Iron Heart Owner and Founder, Tyler Wille and his buddy Roger planted a few varietals over four years ago.
The varietals growing are Cascade, Chinook and Centennial. While most of them were used for home brewing in the past. This would be the first time they were harvested for a big batch at a production brewery.
Once everyone rolled in, the harvest began.
Nothing like a few cans of S.W.A.G. in the morning. From left to right ( Tom Sobocinski and Tyler Jones of Black Hog Brewing and Tyler Wille of Iron Heart Canning.)
Get back to work dude.
Roger inspecting the hops from the harvest. He was pretty impressed by the yield this year and hopes for a better one next year.
Over 100 pounds were gathered for the brew in the days to follow.
DAY 2 – BREW DAY
Day 2 of our journey brought us to Oxford, Connecticut. Home of Black Hog Brewing.
Both Tyler’s bagged up the hops and tossed them into the boil.
As the beer fermented, we all waited eagerly for canning day to come.
DAY 3 – CANNING DAY
Canning days are always fun. Tyler and his crew get the ball rolling quickly, producing around 100 cases per hour. First up was one of Black Hogs flagship beers, Easy Rye’Da. Although this beer is tasty. Everyone was chomping at the bit for a taste of the Iron Hog.
After a quick changeover and dial in. The Iron Hog was flowing. It was pretty cool seeing the beer come full circle after months of planning. Everyone did their part and the liquid inside the can displays the efforts. There is a lot to appreciate with this beer.
At the end of it all both parties were ecstatic to have teamed up. This collaboration is bringing Connecticut a one of a kind beer and a first ever on the collaborative front. To our knowledge there is not one canning company in the country to have collaborated with one of their clients. Iron Hog is a first and most certainly unique. Somethings tells us that this is going to be an annual thing and we can’t wait to see what next year brings.
If you are looking to scoop up some of this delicious IPA. Head over to Black Hog this Saturday, September 5th at NOON. There are only 300 cases available and we don’t see it lasting through the weekend. Cheers to Iron Heart and Black Hog for having us on this journey, we had a blast doing this.