Metallica have teamed up with Stone Brewing imprint, Arrogant Consortia, for Enter Night Pilsner. Drummer Lars Ulrich and Stone Brewing Company CEO Greg Koch spoke about Enter Night Pilsner with Steve Baltin for Forbes. An excerpt follows:

Baltin: What Metallica album goes best with the beer?

Ulrich: "The next one. To me it's always about the next Metallica album. We're saving all that for when we turn professional (laughter). What we tried to do with Greg and his team was to obviously this is the big leagues in terms of beer and what we wanted to do was try to find and create a beer that felt like it was part of their legacy and could stand toe to toe with all the incredible things that they've done from their IPA to Arrogant Bastard to all the rest of their whole arsenal of stuff. But also at the same time get a beer that is good for tailgating. You're hanging out in the afternoon and you're drinking a few beers. You can drink a few of these without falling over. We use the word drinkable, this is very drinkable."

Baltin: What does it mean to you that they want to be involved with Stone IPA given how strict Metallica are about lending their name?

Greg Koch: "I think that's the magic of what we've done together is that this definitely wouldn't qualify as lending anybody's name to anything, it's a collaboration. It's a very together activity where we have actively worked to create and craft what was the best representation of the coming together of Metallica and Arrogant Consortia."

Read more at Forbes.

A new 10-minute documentary, The Story Of Enter Night Pilsner, is available for streaming below.

"It’s certainly been no secret, but we are beyond excited to make the official announcement and introduction to Enter Night Pilsner, our collaboration with Arrogant Consortia, a Stone Brewing imprint," states a recent message from Metallica. "If you’ve been to one of our recent arena shows, you may have sipped from the black and red cans or even picked up a few in the surrounding neighbourhoods. Now we’re expanding nationwide, and come spring, taking it international covering Europe, Australia, China and beyond!

"Stone Brewing is the perfect partner for us with endless commonalities in our ideals, outlooks, and paths forward. Our views of the worlds that we each inhabit, of creativity and process, and of sense of place in relation to our peers and “The Man” are almost identical. This collaboration is beyond effortless and pure, and we can’t wait to share this incredible beverage with everyone out there. In conjunction with the leadership of Stone, we have participated throughout every step alongside their talented brewing team. From our HQ outside of San Francisco to Stone’s brewery and HQ in San Diego to many beers backstage at shows, the spirit of collaboration was powerful.

"Keep watching for Enter Night Pilsner at our shows as we fire up the tour again later this week and check out the Arrogant Consortia beer finder to locate Enter Night near you.

"Don’t see it in your neighborhood yet? Check back… our friends at Stone are putting those Enter Night cans and kegs in new locations all the time!"

Metallica performs next on January 16th at the I Am the Highway: A Tribute To Chris Cornell event at The Forum in Los Angeles, CA. The band's complete tour schedule, which stretches into August 2019, can be found at this location.