A new beer pear-ing

Iron Goat is back in the collaboration business, with another Oregon heavyweight.

The Spokane brewery, which last year joined with Ninkasi to make Goatörhead triple IPA, has teamed up with Portland’s Breakside for Nice Pear – a Belgian golden ale made with lemon peel and aged in gin barrels over pears.

It’s one of six collaborations with “favorite up-and-coming and established breweries from across the country” to be released at events around Portland in conjunction with the national Craft Brewers Conference the week of April 13, Breakside announced today.

Other collabs include a bourbon barrel-aged porter with Stone, a barrel sour red with Colorado's Bonfire, an imperial honey IPA with North Carolina's NoDa, a session black IPA with Pinthouse Pizza in Texas and a “multiculture ale” with Seattle's Elliott Bay.

Look for a limited quantity of Nice Pear to show up at the Goat sometime after the conference, possibly as part of the weekly Wednesday small-batch “Year of the Goat” series.

Last Wednesday’s YOTG release, a juicy, fruity IPA with newer, experimental Azacca and Jarrylo hops, also will be poured in Portland during the conference at an event sponsored by the American Dwarf Hop Association.

Today’s offering is the return of the Belgian-inspired Farmhouse Ale (6.2 percent alcohol by volume, 30 International Bitterness Units), slightly fruity and spicy with an earthy, dry finish. If you can’t make it now, no worries – this is a big-batch seasonal that will be around all spring and summer.