Metallica and Stone Brewing Co. have thrashed out a beer collaboration.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted metal band and the iconoclastic Escondido, California-based brewer teamed up to make Enter Night, a hoppy pilsner, which is now hitting the national stage.

The 5.7 percent beer became available in stores and concert venues visited by Metallica during its fall 2018 tour, but will now be sold nationally, and in Europe starting this spring when the band plays there.

Metallica had been watching other musicians get into the booze business, drummer Lars Ulrich says. In addition to rocker Sammy Hagar launching Cabo Wabo tequila, which he sold in 2007 for $80 million, AC/DC has marketed its own beer, wine and tequila. Countless other musicians including Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake and actors such as George Clooney and Ryan Reynolds have created their own boutique beverages, too.

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"In terms of hard rock, Iron Maiden has been doing beverages very successfully and Megadeth has been doing beer," Ulrich said in an interview with USA TODAY. "We have been watching everybody else do their stuff and sometimes just sitting back and watching ... you sort of pick up what is working and (think) what could our model look like."

Expanding beyond music and merchandise makes sense for artists as they look for more ways to connect with fans, he said.

"Our primary thing is obviously playing music … but in the wake of that comes a whole slew of other things,'' Ulrich said. "I look at all of them ... as creative outlets."

This isn’t Metallica’s first foray into booze. The band brought its Blackened whiskey to market last fall.

Metallica went it alone on its whiskey venture, but beer distribution required an ally. Stone Brewing's name kept popping up for Metallica's research team.

The pairing is appropriate. Stone's beers are usually emblazoned with its metal-worthy mascot, a gargolye, and carry names such as "Arrogant Bastard" and "Ruination."

Adds Ulrich, "They have have always been fiercely independent and so has Metallica."

Neither Metallica nor Stone wanted to just "slap a label" on a beer, said Stone co-founder Greg Koch, who met Ulrich in Copenhagen this past summer and later had "a pretty epic" beer tasting at Ulrich's Bay Area house .

"They were really interested in understanding the process and making a thoughtful decision about the beer style and how we should do everything surrounding it ," said Koch, who co-founded Stone in 1996 with Steve Wagner.

They gravitated toward a pilsner in part because Ulrich, who was born in Denmark, recalled growing up near a Tuborg brewery , famous for that type of beer, and "smelling the hops in the air."

For Stone, a brewery that leans toward IPAs and strong stouts, a pilsner would "add to their arsenal," Ulrich said, "and would have an authentic story based on Metallica."

Enter Night gets its name from the lyrics of the platinum-certified single "Enter Sandman," a track on the 1991 album "Metallica" (also known as the Black Album), which sold more than 16 million copies in the U.S.

And the beer, packaged under Stone's Arrogant Consortia label, is appropriate for concertgoers. "We wanted to create something that would be good to drink, (when) maybe you are tailgating outside a venue waiting to get into a concert," Ulrich said. "We wanted to have a very drinkable beer and one that would not, you know, knock your socks off."

In its early days, Metallica, which was founded in 1981, earned the nickname "Alcoholica" for their decadence. Lead singer and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield went into rehab in 2001 – that period is documented in the 2004 rock doc "Some Kind of Monster" – and has been sober since.

But Hetfield does not have any problem with the band's booze deals, Ulrich says. "He is totally into it. He loves the idea of anything we can do to connect with our fans," Ulrich said.



Meanwhile, connecting with Metallica is a dream come true for Stone's Koch, who remembers buying the band's 1988 album "... And Justice for All" and cranking a then just-released "Metallica" during a 1991 road trip.

"I've been a fan since they showed up on my radar in the Eighties," Koch said. "That’s definitely the category of music I am personally into and they are at the top of that echelon."

So for Koch to have Hetfield tell him, "'Hey, I think you and what you do reminds me of us,' You go, ‘Wow, that’s kind of a cool thing to hear'," Koch said.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.

