There are few things more iconic in this area than Abbott's Frozen Custard.

Now the famous Rochester-based business is teaming with Brockport's Stoneyard Brewing for a Chocolate Almond Custard Stout. It features all of the ingredients from the frozen treat and will hit store shelves this week.

It's a uniquely Rochester collaboration.

"Abbott’s has been around forever. It’s one of the most iconic Rochester traditions," Stoneyard head brewer/co-owner Jeffrey "Oz" Osborne said. "It’s pretty cool. They’ve been in Rochester for a long time. The headquarters (original Lake Avenue location in Charlotte) is walking distance from my house. It’s just so cool to collaborate with someone who is so truly Rochester."

Stoneyard canned a 30-barrel batch Tuesday, May 15, and it will be available at 3 p.m. Friday, May 17, at all Rochester-area Wegmans locations and other beer retailers, Stoneyard director of sales Chirsan Lichtenstein said.

The beer will be available in four packs. A very small portion was kegged. And it'll only be available at some of Bill Gray's locations with Abbott's Frozen Custard locations under the same roof.

The beer smells exactly like the rich Abbott's treat and is both sweet and chocolaty on the finish. There is also a little bit of nuttiness on the back end and in the aroma. The impressive part is that the adjuncts don't overpower the base beer, and you still get notes of roast in the beer.

At 6.5 percent alcohol, the beer is deceptively rich, but it is never cloying. Osborne said they utilized the same proprietary blend of ingredients used in the frozen custard. That included about 180 pounds of Abbott's chocolate custard base.

"It was a lot," Osborne said with a hearty laugh. "Poor (assistant brewer) Brendan (Kewin) had to be piping them from bags into the fermenter for about 90 minutes one day. He had to do it bag-by-bag by squeezing them from the top, almost as if you were frosting a cake."

The beer was unquestionably labor intensive, but you can't argue with the delicious results.

The beer follows in the footsteps of a recent trend in so-called pastry stouts. Writer Alex Kidd coined the term "pastry stout" on his Dont Drink Beers blog. It denotes a rich dark beer that features dessert-like ingredients such as almonds, vanilla or cinnamon.

Stoneyard founder Jay Nichols and Abbott's director of franchise operations Joe Orden met last year at a party, and a quick friendship was formed. Nichols was adamant that the two brands should collaborate, but Orden was initially reluctant.

But Nichols persisted and eventually convinced Orden about the viability of the partnership.

"The beer was born from the relationship that started that night," Nichols said. "You have this perfect flavor, and then you add it to a great stout like Oz brews."

Orden said the partnership makes sense for Abbott's, which started in 1902 and now features 42 locations across a number of different states.

"This isn't just about a can of beer," Orden said. "And having met Jay and knowing he's a local guy, we're doing this for all the right reasons. We're not looking to have a line of beers available all the time at Wegmans, but holy cow, how could we pass up this opportunity? It will benefit both of our brands and I think the public will love it."

Now that the first collaboration is in the books, conversations have already started about what could come next. Perhaps you could see an Abbott's flavor in Stoneyard's signature cream ale.

The brewery is already widely known for its toasted coconut cream ale. When asked if he was already thinking about future collaborations, Osborne chortled and replied, "Oh, yeah."

WCLEVELAND@Gannett.com