Tea-infused Collision beer may look outrageous, but it’s no prank

By Steve Graham

Readers of a certain age may remember challenging friends to drink a soda “suicide” in middle school. Despite the grim name, it presented absolutely no danger beyond a sugar rush and some caffeinated tweens. It was simply a mix of all the soda flavors.

Pour fizzy brown, clear, neon yellow and orange drinks into one cup and you have a mix that tastes like sugar water but is probably a less-than-appetizing greenish purple color.

I hadn’t been asked to drink something that color for decades, until head brewer Jason Blythe poured me a Blinker Fluid at Collision Brewing in Longmont. Fittingly, he named the indescribably hued drink for another teenage prank — the old joke of sending newbie drivers to the auto parts store to ask for blinker fluid just to watch them get laughed out of the shop.

Thankfully, Collision’s Blinker Fluid is not a joke and it tastes a lot better than the classic soda suicide. It’s a refreshing kolsch with distinct herbal and floral notes, thanks largely to an unusual ingredient.

Butterfly tea, also known as butterfly pea flower tea, is made with a Southeast Asian flower. The tea has a vibrant blue color, but a subtle flavor similar to green tea. It has a variety of specialized culinary uses for both coloring and flavoring foods and drinks, which is how Jason learned about the flower. “This goes back to weird cooking shows I watch,” he said.

Celestial Seasonings uses the flowers in a tea blend, but the flowers are not widely available or widely used in this country.

“I brewed with a lot of teas when I was home brewing, and they always bring nice flavors to the beer,” Jason said.

Another tea blend -- the passion fruit iced tea English ale, called the Tea Party -- may show up again this summer.

The funky butterfly tea took some more experimentation than the passion fruit blend.

“I got this really nice bright blue neon wort, and after it started fermenting, it turned this gray mop-water color, and I’m thinking, I can’t sell this at all,” Jason said. “It tasted phenomenal but it didn’t look appetizing.”

Over time and with some added juniper berries, the beer became clear and took on its indescribable hue. The color seems to change in different light, and changes drastically with added ingredients. Lemon juice can turn the beer purple or pink, and soda water can turn it milky and opaque.

Customers enjoy the subtle fruitiness of the juniper berries in the light, refreshing kolsch.

“The piney finish you get from the blue juniper would accompany the herbal sense really well,” Jason said.

Jason and his brother Eric Blythe opened Collision last fall as a way to expand on a glorified home-brewing operation that Jason had set up for the family restaurant, Nicolo’s Pizza, also in Longmont. The Blythe family has run the pizzeria for 15 years, and the whole family is still involved.

Jason wanted to experiment with more creative beers and a larger brewing operation, and Eric wanted to launch a new business with fun thematic homages to his automotive hobby.

“You don’t see a lot of themed restaurants and breweries around anymore, so we’re a car-themed restaurant and it’s more than just a theme,” Eric said.

Both Blythe boys, as well as their father and their kids, all tinker with cars and have done some drag racing. A retired junior dragster hangs above the entrance to the Collision “shop,” an airy and sunlit pub with big glass garage-bay doors, a relaxed diner atmosphere and plenty of auto-themed murals and décor.

Some beer names also reflect the automotive theme, while the flavors reflect Jason’s bold creativity. The Clutch is an English Strong Ale finished with star anise, and the mild licorice flavor is surprisingly welcome. My other personal favorite is the Pineapples in Paradise, a deceptively drinkable Belgian Trippel brewed with lactose and pineapple juice.

“At 8 percent, it goes down way too smooth,” Jason said.

His brewery has a Longmont address, but is in Weld County closer to Interstate 25 and Firestone.

“We’re in the middle of nowhere, but we’re in the middle of everything,” Eric said.

Find it out in the middle of everything and order a Blinker Fluid. You won’t get laughed out of the shop this time.

Steve Graham is a freelance writer and former newspaper editor who likes taking his two young boys biking, hiking and brewery-hopping in northern Colorado.