Jester King 2016 Spon Méthode Gueuze is the Austin, Texas based brewery’s first spontaneously fermented beer. Soon, it will see the light of day.
Like so many brewers stateside, a trip to Belgium’s renown Cantillon in 2012 inspired Jester King to attempt spontaneous fermentation. In case these terms are foreign to you, spontaneous fermentation occurs when a brewery cools their hot wort (post boil beer) in a coolship (basically a shallow bathtub). The yeast and bacteria in the air will begin fermenting the cooling beer.
In 2013, Jester King mashed on on their first spontaneous beer, featuring 60% barley and 40% Texas wheat. The hops had been aged in burlap bags in their horse barn attic. The beer was then racked to puncheons and the brewery waited. Biology took the wheel.
Pulling samples after six months encouraged Jester King to do the process again the following winter. By 2015, the brewery found their sweet spot in the process.
Jester King 2016 Spon Méthode Gueuze is a blend of 1, 2 and 3 year old spontaneously fermented beer, dating back to their first attempt. Jester King wants to reiterate this beer is not lambic or gueuze, just brewed in the “method” of gueuze. A very time consuming, and painstaking method that takes an inordinate amount of patience to do correctly.
…Rather, we have a very strong desire for beer drinkers to know how our beer was made. We want them to know that this is not just a spontaneously fermented beer, but a spontaneously fermented beer made using the method of authentic Belgian Gueuze. We invested an inordinate amount of time, energy, money, and patience into making this beer.
Jester King 2016 Spon Méthode Gueuze will be available at the brewery in Austin, Texas on November 18th, 2016. More release details to follow.
Ed note: Beer Street Journal has given you an abridged version of Jester King’s thought process and method behind this beer. For the full, in depth story, read about it on the brewery’s website.
