MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. — Crystal Coast Brewing Company of Morehead City, North Carolina and Mill Whistle Brewing of Beaufort, North Carolina has announced the release of their second ever collaboration beer.
Inspired by local folklore and as a tribute to those in the Old Burying Grounds in Beaufort, the beer will be named the Graveyard Sister Baltic Porter.
The 7.9 percent Baltic-style Porter was brewed at Crystal Coast’s brewery in Morehead City by Mill Whistle’s head brewer and founder Tom Backman and Crystal Coast’s head brewer Billy Smith. The beer was brewed using North Carolina grown malt from Carolina Malt House and features a fudgy chocolate malt character with a clean cocoa finish.
“It was a great experience hosting Tom at our brewery,” Smith said. “He’s such a creative brewer, and it was a blast working with him to put together this burly Baltic Porter. With both of us being dark beer fans, it seemed only fitting to brew this style. The final result was as good as we could have hoped, carrying layers and layers of chocolate flavor.”
For Crystal Coast, this is their fifth collaboration since opening in 2017, most recently working with Fishtowne Brew House, another Beaufort based brewery, in February and Bhramari Brewing of Asheville, North Carolina last September. Mill Whistle last collaborated with Crystal Coast in late 2017 on the Clam Dinger Oyster Stout.
The collaboration beer will be released April 6 at the third annual Mill Fest at Mill Whistle Brewing in Beaufort. The release will be part of an all-day event, featuring food trucks, live music from local band 4EverAll, and the popular Homebrew Competition. Homebrewers from the Crystal Coast and beyond will enter the competition and all patrons that day will rate the beer to determine the winner. The winning brewers will earn the opportunity to brew their beer on Crystal Coast Brewing’s 7-barrel brewing system and have it on tap at both their taproom and Mill Whistle Brewing’s this summer.
“We are very excited to work with Tom and the Mill Whistle team on this new beer,” said Charlie Poppe, Crystal Coast’s owner and founder. “We look forward to working together with them on many more ventures this year, and to many more collaborations with other great North Carolina breweries as well.”