Mel Bailey Shamus Jones and Sam Calagione

Earlier this week we caught wind that Brooklyn Brine would be teaming up with Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales in north Williamsburg. Now we can reveal the mystery project will be a sandwich joint specializing in fried pickles. It will open in Williamsburg in May.

At a tasting at La Birreria at Eataly today, Shamus Jones of Brooklyn Brine and Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head said the collaboration had been a long time coming.

The two brands last worked together on a Hop-Pickle made with Dogfish Head’s IPA. Here, they’ll serve those hop-infused pickles as well as “a whole menu of grilled sandwiches with different rotating seasonal pickles and pickles infused in beer and an a la carte menu for pickles,” said Mr. Jones. All of it will amount to “a house built around a fried pickle environment, with quality ingredients and products.”

“This restaurant is going to be used as a pickle beta-testing area for food products and whatnot,” said Mr. Calagione. “It’s going to be more of a test kitchen.” At play will be Randall the Enamel Animal, a custom-made device that infuses beer with the taste of whatever hops, spices, herbs, and fruit are added.

Mr. Jones said he first started frying pickles while working at a high-end vegetable restaurant in Seattle. “As cooks and fat kids, we said, ‘Hey, let’s fry Snickers, let’s fry this, let’s fry that, and eventually we fried pickles. And pickles and beer just worked so well, clearly,” he said.