— Hidden behind a pair of smokey sunglass, Petey Pablo looked at a pour of Neuse River Brewing Company's sour Streamside Orange Creamsicle.

He lifted it to his lips and took a sip.

"I don't taste cream or sicle," the Greenville native joked, holding the straw-colored beer up to the light.

On a recent Thursday, Pablo — born Moses Barrett III — sat hunched over a beer and a bag of Carolina Kettle barbecue chips at the Raleigh brewery. Pablo liked the Streamside, but he wasn't there just to see what was new: At that bar, in a couple of weeks, Pablo would raise up his own beer instead.

Ryan Kolarov, the president of Neuse River, said he and some friends went to Pablo's December talent showcase, What Do We Have Here?, at Imurj in downtown Raleigh. They saw the rapper walk by and a friend joked that they should collaborate on a beer.

So, Kolarov took a chance.

"After I got another drink in me, and Petey walked by, I stopped and said, 'Hey, Petey, let's make a beer together," Kolarov said.

Of course, Pablo said yes.

After a talk with Pablo's business manager, several weeks of conversations and numerous tastings, the beer began to take shape. Petey said he wanted something that was "fruity, flavorful, kind of strong — strong enough for you to feel good," and that's what he got.

Petey's Pale Ale is a guava-forward, 5.8 percent ABV brew that Neuse River plans to drop with a release party on May 5. It's not too strong and not too bitter. Just the way Petey likes it.

"I like feel-good stuff," he said. "I like my music to feel good, I like my drinks to feel good. I like feel-good stuff. So, I wanted a great combination of what I would consider to be feel-good."

It was a chance meeting that brought Pablo to Neuse River. But he's not one to shy away from trying something new, either.

"(I wanted to make a beer) because there's no limits to what a person can do in life," Petey said. "So, anything and everything that you can possibly imagine is something that you should try at least once in life.

"With that said, I'm a drinker, so you might as well drink your own."