Mikkeller and Samuel Adams are Brewing Together for Boston Beer Celebration

Bugs & Berries. / Rendering provided.

There will be an overwhelming amount of beer choices at Boston’s first-ever Copenhagen Beer and Music Celebration, coming this September. But make sure to save a sip for one brewed just for the occasion.

Samuel Adams and Mikkeller have joined forces to brew Bugs & Berries, a wheat-based wild ale, made with New England strawberries and sour cherries from Denmark. The resulting beer is a tart, terroir-driven fruit beer that Mikkeller founder Mikkel Borg Bjergsø says was born of curiosity.

“When we decided to bring the Copenhagen Beer Celebration to Boston, we knew we wanted to offer craft beer fans something extra special, and wanted a partner in crime that shared our same passion for innovation and experimentation in beer,” he says in a press release.

Bjergsø and Sam Adams founder Jim Koch visited Frederiksdal Estate, a cherry orchard and winery in Denmark, to collect strains of wild yeast, as well as the cherries. In the U.S., the yeasts come from New York, and the strawberries were harvested from a few different New England strawberry patches. One of the main goals of the collaboration was to explore what different wild yeasts contributed during the fermentation process, Bjergsø says, “which is part of the inspiration for the name Bugs & Berries.”

Koch says sourcing ingredients from both the U.S. and Denmark has resulted in “a true international collaboration.” Bugs & Berries will debut this September at the Copenhagen Beer Celebration, and there will be limited quantities available at the Sam Adams brewery in Jamaica Plain, too.

The Mikkeller-curated Copenhagen Beer Celebration debuted in its namesake city four years ago, and the first incarnation outside of Denmark will be in Boston. In conjunction with Crash Line Productions, the Boston Copenhagen Beer Celebration expands into music with performances by Yo La Tengo, Lucero, and more over three sessions. Food will also be available, courtesy of local favorites like Roxy’s Grilled Cheese and Zinneken’s Belgian Waffles, as well as WarPigs Barbecue, a collaborative Copenhagen brewpub from Indiana’s 3 Floyds Brewing Co. and Mikkeller.

But beer is still the reason: Amble around City Hall Plaza to sample beers from 50-plus world-class breweries, including 3 Floyds, Monkish Brewing from the Los Angeles area, Vermont’s coveted Hill Farmstead, Pennsylvania’s Tired Hands, and many more. Local favorites like Idle Hands, Mystic, and Trillium will also be there.

Tickets are still available for all three sessions.

Copenhagen Beer and Music Celebration, 21+, September 23-24, City Hall Plaza, Boston, $41.50-$234, additional beer tastings on sale, copenhagenbeerfest.com.