Collision Bend Brewing Co. Releases The Word Double IPA Featuring Tremont Artist David Witzke

Chef Natasha Pogrebinsky for The Tremonster

Luke Purcell, brewmaster and part-owner of Collision Bend Brewing Company (1250 Old River Rd, The Flats), was already familiar with Tremont’s most prolific muralist, David Witzke, aka ‘The Sign Guy’ (IG: the_sign_guy_1972), from murals around Tremont and a fence mural Dave had painted at the Rocky River home of a couple of Luke’s close friends.

“That was in my head, and I came to work downtown one day, and Alina, a banquet manager here, had one of Dave’s keychains—a little bird—I was like, ‘I love that guy! My friends have it on their fence.’ That was when it struck Luke that a bird mural would work perfectly for Collision Bend’s local artist series (collaborating with and supporting and promoting local Cleveland artists and causes). Alina is a friend of Dave’s, and she was able to connect the artist with the brewmaster.

When Dave got the call from Luke about Collision Bend’s interest in collaborating on a beer for the brewery’s “artist line” of beers, Dave had no idea what he would do for a design. “At first, I didn’t know what I was going to do. I’m like, ‘What do I do? I do have the bird doing so many different things…” In the end, Dave settled on a patchwork blue bird holding up a heart in a colorful storm. “He has patches—he’s like a kind of rag doll: like, put together—so he’s been through a lot to get to like where he is currently.”

“Dave and [our team] met and settled on uh this one which is like ended up being, I think, one of our brightest and best cans that we’ve ever done,” said Luke.

The collaboration resulted in the new beer from Collision Bend Brewery, “The Word | Double IPA.”

What’s a double IPA (India Pale Ale)? According to Luke, a double IPA is “Just a little more alcohol…a little more of everything. The IPA is the most popular style in craft beer and it has been for quite a few years now.” Luke has been brewing beer for 30 years, and when he started brewing IPAs, “Nobody liked them.” Then, the public may not have been ready for the more flavorful beers. But now, it’s become the number most popular style in Collision Bend Brewery’s beer menu.

Chef Natasha Pogrebinsky sat down with Dave and Luke at Collision Bend to learn more about their creative collaboration. Their conversation follows.


Natasha:

Hi, everybody. We are at Collision Bend, a historic location in Cleveland where over a century ago, large ships were colliding in the bend, in the icy waters. But today, great minds are colliding. The great minds are … Well, me, Chef Natasha. I ask the hard hitting questions. We have Luke. We also have Dave the artist. Luke makes the beer, Dave makes the art.

We are going to talk today about a double IPA called The Word, which is based on this amazing work of art with our very own local artist. When did they start? When did the birds start showing up?

Dave:

So I started doing them, which is crazy, this is the 20th year.

Natasha:

Oh, wow.

Dave:

2005.

Natasha:

Well, congratulations. Here, let’s take a sip, everybody. To the beer, to the bird. Yummy. Yum. I like that it’s deep, right? You immediately get flavor.

Luke:

Yeah, the double IPA-

Natasha:

We’ll come back.

Luke:

They’re balanced more than a regular IPA because there’s a lot more malt, so you get more of a balanced flavor. Then your regular IPA is a little sharper and more bitter at the end than these. So it’s interesting, people that don’t like an IPA sometimes like a double IPA.

Natasha:

Oh, okay.

Luke:

You never know how people’s palates work.

Natasha:

The birds have been in Tremont for over 20 years now. Going on another 20, maybe?

Dave:

Yeah, as long as I can do them.

Luke:

Where was the first bird?

Dave:

I lived in Tremont for about 15 years and I developed a bird over there. Other characters, but the other characters didn’t really go anywhere. But when I got into it, it was a completely different reason. Started doing the bird once I started doing gallery shows and more in the public type of stuff. And the bird resonates with everybody: guys, girls all ages across the board. But the first bird is on the back of a stop sign.

Natasha:

What inspired this specific beautiful thing, The Word?

Luke:

I’ve obviously have seen Dave’s art around town in Tremont and other places. Some very good friends of mine, actually, Danielle and Matt, have his mural on their whole fence in Rocky River in their backyard.

Natasha:

Right.

Luke:

And that was in my head. And I came to work downtown here one day, and Alina, one of our banquet managers here, had one of Dave’s keychains, a little bird. I was like, “I love that guy. My friends have it on their fence.” She said she was friends with him and stuff. And I was like, “That’d be really cool to put that on a can, on a beer can.”

Natasha:

Yeah.

Luke:

So that’s how the ball got rolling. I was like, “This would be perfect for this idea of connecting with local artists.”

Natasha:

Yeah.

Luke:

So we got a hold of Dave and we met and we settled on this one, which ended up being really, honestly I think, one of our brightest and best cans that we’ve ever done.

Natasha:

Yeah, it’s a lot of color. It’s very bright. There’s a lot of emotion. It’s got a lot of Cleveland colors happening too. There’s a heart.

Dave:

Yeah, the heart. And these patches. He’s kind of like a rag doll put together. He’s been through a lot to get to where he is currently.

Natasha:

Yeah. How long have you been brewing?

Luke:

Probably since I started home brewing, it’s oh, about 30 years.

Natasha:

30 years.

Luke:

Yeah. I’ve been brewing beer for that long. I was at Great Lakes Brewing Company for 21 years, so my professional career started there and then opened here for eight more. We have some of these cans out here. Some things are new, some things we’ve had for a long time. But I brought the ones to show off because they’re all things Cleveland for us.

Natasha:

These are all really colorful. Even for collecting, if you’re into collecting Cleveland memorabilia-

Luke:

Yeah, there’s a thing there.

Natasha:

And/or just cans. These are beautiful works of art on their own. What stores can you get the beer?

Luke:

You can get pretty much at any of the stores in town. We’re in all of the grocery stores now, most of the smaller beer stores as well. You’ll see our cans on the shelves out there. Hopefully, this one will be around the Tremont area. I’m expecting some orders from some of our friends in those restaurants and bars there too.

Natasha:

That’s great. Amazing drinks, really great food, an amazing view. You got three great things going for you year-round. What’s your go-to on the menu?

Luke:

I think we have one of the better brunch menus in town. I think we’re going to try the breakfast burrito, I think will match up perfectly with this beer.

Natasha:

Beer with brunch?

Luke:

Beer with brunch.

Natasha:

Beer with brunch, yes.

Luke:

Absolutely. Once in a while we’ll do beer-mosas.

Natasha:

Beer Brunch Bird.

Luke:

There we go. I like that.

Natasha:

Thank you, Luke. Thank you, Dave.

Dave:

Thank you.

Luke:

Thank you.

Natasha:

Thank you, Collision Brewery. Come on down here. Have some beer brunch bird, meet some new friends, and keep coming out and supporting Cleveland, supporting each other.

Hi, we’re in the kitchen with Mike, our line cook today. And we are cooking what?

Mike:

We’re making our Christmas burrito.

Natasha:

Christmas burrito. What are we putting in this Christmas burrito?

Mike:

So we’re going to start with chorizo.

Natasha:

We’ve got a lot of chorizo going in there. Delicious. Monterey jack. And that’s slightly spicy. What do we got here, cheese sauce?

Mike:

Yes. And this is our beer cheese.

Natasha:

It’s beer cheese. What kind of beers in there?

Mike:

Right now, we’re using our Bollard pull.

Natasha:

It’s a bowler pool?

Mike:

Bollard pull.

Natasha:

Bollard pull.

Crew:

It’s a porter.

Natasha:

It’s a porter. Porter is a darker beer, so it gives us just a little bit more depth to the flavor.

Crew:

We’re going to have to wrap.

Natasha:

We’re going to wrap it up. All right. Got to do it real tight.

Mike:

We’re going to take it right here on our grill.

Natasha:

Just putting a little bit of oil down there. Okay.

Mike:

Just get a little sear.

Natasha:

So sear, we have beautiful sear going. It’s going to have delicious. It’s also going to sear in those flavors. It’s going to give this a little bit of a crust, a nice delicious crust. Okay, eggs are going in. It’s a breakfast burrito. We got a secret ingredient. What did you bring here?

Mike:

This is our salsa verde.

Natasha:

Okay.

Mike:

Okay, so this is actually going to go on the plate underneath. Basically, it’s just Poblano peppers.

Natasha:

I love Poblano peppers. They’re like mild, right? They’re like a bell pepper, but they have a little heat.

Mike:

Tomatillos.

Natasha:

Tomatillos.

Mike:

Tomatillos, they’re like little tomatoes.

Natasha:

They’re the green tomatoes, right?

Mike:

Yeah.

Natasha:

Super yummy. They have more texture.

Mike:

Yes.

Natasha:

And they’re really great in a green sauce.

Mike:

Yes.

Natasha:

Yummy, yummy, yummy. So we’re heating up the salsa. It’s going to be a little hot salsa. The Christmas colors are starting to happen.

Mike:

Then we’re going to come right over here. We got that nice sear on there.

Natasha:

You got the beautiful sear.

Mike:

And then, we have our enchilada sauce right here.

Natasha:

We’ll tell you we’re coming next time. We just surprised.

Mike:

Yes. But next time-

Natasha:

Look at the drizzle. Look. You just want to eat that already. Oh my God, that salsa. What is that again?

Mike:

This? Enchilada.

Natasha:

Oh my god, that smells so good. Oh, so much … You could smell the flavor. Oh my God, yeah.

Mike:

Yeah?

Natasha:

That’s perfectly balanced. It’s got a lot of lime in there too, maybe? Or what kind of citrus? Is that the lime in there? Yes, it’s light. You think it’s going to be very Chipotle heavy, but it’s very light.

Mike:

And then this is our lime crema, which is essentially sour cream and lime juice.

Natasha:

Sour cream and lime juice. So you could make this at home, but don’t try to do that. Just come here and have it made for you.

Mike:

Okay. And there it is. That is our …

Natasha:

Thank you, Mike.

Mike:

Yes. You’re very welcome. It was nice to meet you.

Natasha:

Thank you so much. Collision Bend Bollard pull porter. The pulling power of a tugboat is in this can and now in this beer cheese. Thank you Collision Bend for welcoming us. Of course, this wonderful Cleveland welcome. And now we took a trip to the kitchen, spent some time with Mike who cooked with this beautiful burrito. Everything’s melty. Oh my God, it smells so good.

It is not your burrito from whatever, okay? This is craft and it is beautiful. It’s also very, very simple. But again, come here. Don’t do this at home. Delicious. The crust is perfect. The salsa is so well-balanced. I always talk with my mouth full. What are you going to do about it? All right. See you at Collision Bend.


The original painting for the design for the Collision Bend beer can art work will be sold to the highest bidder. Proceeds will be donated to the Cleveland APL. Search “The_Sign_Guy_1972” on Instagram for updates.

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