Jester King Brewery

No More Force Carbonation For Jester King

Since Jester King began brewing about a year and a half ago, they have only produced unfiltered and unpasteurized beer.  All bottles, casks, and gravity kegs were naturally conditioned, but most of their kegs were force carbonated.  In other words, Continue Reading →

Jester King Mad Meg Planned For Bottles

From Jester King Brewing’s limited release collection – Mad Meg.   The beer has just debuted on draft, and will soon hit bottles.

“Provision Ale” is a rough translation of the French term “bière de provision“, which was sometimes used to Continue Reading →

Texas Beer Geek Brunch Releases In March

The first batch of the Jester King Brewery/Mikkeller collaboration, Ale/Malt Liquor in TX Geek Brunch, was placed in oak whiskey barrels to be aged.  The second batch brewed last month will be released in March.

TX Geek Brunch is a strong stout brewed with smoked Continue Reading →

Jester King Le Petite Prince Hits Bottles Soon

Jester King Brewing (Austin, TX) debuted Le Petite Prince a low alcohol table beer in early December.

Death rays, probes and world domination? No, none of that here; our Little Prince just doesn’t have the desire for such things.  He’s quite content exploring Continue Reading →

Too Many Bubbles In Commercial Suicide

Jester King Brewing’s Commerical Suicide has a bubbly issue.  The yeast did a little extra work, causing leakage and spewing. (That’s what she said.)  Jester is recalling the recently released bottles.

A few weeks ago, we posted about an issue with Continue Reading →

Posted in Jester King Brewery, Mikkeller

Jester King/Mikkeller Collab: Beer Geek Rodeo

Jester King Beer Geek RodeoBeer Geek Rodeo is a peppery, coffee laden collaboration between Mikkeller and Jester King

Beer geeks and rodeos don’t often go together, but if ever there were a place where the two would meet, it would be Denmark No one from Jester King has ever been to Denmark, but our friends Mikkel and Thomas tell us the entire country is inhabited by craft beer drinking, spicy food loving Viking cowboys and cowgirls, and we think that sounds awesome. So as they say in Danish, bunden i vejret eller resten i haret, which we believe is pro-nounced “Yee-haw!” Jester King Craft Brewery is an authentic farm-house brewery in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, on the outskirts of Austin. We brew what we like, drink what we want and offer the rest to those who share our tastes.

Style: Imperial Stout (Chipotle Peppers, Coffee, Brown Sugar)
Hops: Millenium, Saaz, Cascade, Columbus
Malts: Flaked Oats, Roasted Barley, Maris Otter, Dark Crystal, Brown, Chocolate, Smoked, Pale.

Availability: 750 ml bottles
Arrival: TBA

10.1% ABV, 53 IBUs

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Jester King Brewery

No More Force Carbonation For Jester King

Since Jester King began brewing about a year and a half ago, they have only produced unfiltered and unpasteurized beer.  All bottles, casks, and gravity kegs were naturally conditioned, but most of their kegs were force carbonated.  In other words, instead of adding sugar when the beer was kegged to produce CO2 naturally, they were carbonating them by bubbling compressed CO2 into the beer from a tank.  As of last month, that is no more.  All Jester King beers will be 100% naturally carbonated.

Jester King says…

“…in our experience with our beer, we’re solidly convinced that natural conditioning results in better products. We’ve now done more comparisons than we can count between force carbonated and naturally conditioned versions of all of our beers, and we all consistently judge the naturally conditioned versions to be more flavorful, complex and interesting than their force carbonated counterparts.

Why had they not made this decision sooner?  Naturally conditioning the beers takes about four to six weeks longer and it takes up more storage space.  This means that there will be less Jester King to go around each month, but what is available will be better.  Also, some draught systems cannot handle keg-conditioned beers because of the fluctuation in carbonation from keg to keg and the natural sediment that occurs in these beers.  Jester King does not look back on the decision to force carbonate their beers fondly, but perhaps as the right decision for that point in time.  From now on any Jester King beer you might consume will have let the yeast work its natural magic in its original vessel whether that be bottle, keg, or cask.

[Jester King]

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Coming Soon, Jester King Brewery

Jester King’s Bonnie The Rare Berliner Weisse

Jester King Brewing will be launching a new berliner weisse (sour wheat ale) in 2012.   Bonnie The Rare is a beer built on extensive research on the style by the brewery.  They style originated in northern Germany in the 16th century.  A one time, the style was so populare that almost 700 breweries brewed it.  By the early 1900’s, only a handful of German breweries were producing it.  Bonnie uses harvested rain water, along with local well water.

The Concept:
A traditional Berlin-style sour wheat beer, based on the meticulous research of beer historian Ron Pattinson. Big thanks to Kristen England of Pour Decisions Brewery for all of his help along the way and to our good friend Andrew Pogue, whose test batch first inspired the idea.

Label:
Is it wrong that an anthropomorphic bear happens to enjoy doing housework while wearing women s clothes? Would society col-lapse if a fizzy, little, pale yellow beer had flavor, and if its flavors were a bit strange? Camouflage cans lie before us like ancient throbbing pillars of masculinity, their con-tents as bland as the roles they attempt to force upon us. For those who dare to ques-tion the gender roles of 1950’s television, or to live outside the so-called social norms, we offer Bonnie the Rare-our own challenge to expectation. Jester King Craft Brewery is an authentic farmhouse-brewery in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, on the outskirts of Austin. We brew what we like, drink what we want and offer the rest to those who share our tastes.

Style: Berliner Weisse
Hops: Czech Saaz
Malts: Pale Wheat, Belgian Pilsener, Caramunich, Acidulated Malt
Water: Harvesterd Rain and/or Hill Country Well Water
Yeast: English Dry Ale and/or Farmhouse Yeast
Bacteria: Lactobacillus

Availability: 750 ml bottles, Draft
Arrival: TBA

3.2% ABV

 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Coming Soon, Jester King Brewery, New Releases

Jester King Mad Meg Planned For Bottles

Jester King Mad Meg
From Jester King Brewing’s limited release collection – Mad Meg.   The beer has just debuted on draft, and will soon hit bottles.

“Provision Ale” is a rough translation of the French term “bière de provision“, which was sometimes used to describe special beers that were suitable for extended storage and aging. Brewed from relatively simple, straightforward ingredients, Mad Meg is golden colored and quite strong, at over 9% ABV. Its palate intertwines delicate farmhouse esters with earthy, spicy hops and clean malt flavors. The name “Mad Meg”, refers to a peasant woman from Flemish folklore, also known as “Dulle Griet” or “Dull Gret”, who leads an army of women to pillage hell. She’s famously depicted in Pieter Brueghel the Elder’s 1562 painting by the same name.

Style: Farmhouse Ale
Hops: Czech Saaz, East Kent Goldings
Malts: Franco-Belges Pilsen, Organic Two Row, Pale Wheat, Caramunich, Acid Malt
Yeast: Farmhouse
Water: Harvesterd Rain and/or Hill Country Well Water

Availability: Draft, Year Round.  (Just released).  Bottles coming soon.

9.6% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Jester King Brewery

Texas Beer Geek Brunch Releases In March

The first batch of the Jester King Brewery/Mikkeller collaboration, Ale/Malt Liquor in TX Geek Brunch, was placed in oak whiskey barrels to be aged.  The second batch brewed last month will be released in March.

TX Geek Brunch is a strong stout brewed with smoked malt, chipotle peppers, and Vietnamese weasel coffee.  Jester King is considering changing the name of the beer to Texas Beer Geek Brunch.  They can legally do so now since their victory against the TABC allowing brewers to call beer over 5%ABV “beer”.

Style: Stout (Barrel Aged)
Arrival: March 2012

?? ABV

[Jester King]

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Jester King Brewery

Jester King Le Petite Prince Hits Bottles Soon

Jester King Petit PrinceJester King Brewing (Austin, TX) debuted Le Petite Prince a low alcohol table beer in early December.

Death rays, probes and world domination? No, none of that here; our Little Prince just doesn’t have the desire for such things.  He’s quite content exploring weightlessness and the simple wonders of new experience.  Alien encounters aren’t necessarily a thing to be feared.  With a simple shift of perspective something initially foreign can become quite familiar, even comforting.  Such wisdom from such a small fellow; maybe bigger isn’t always better after all.

Style: Table Beer (Farmhouse style)
Hops: East Kent Goldings. Czech Saaz
Malts: Pilsner, Two Row, Pale, Caramunich, Acid
Yeast: Farmhouse

Availability:  Draft, 750ml bottles soon
Arrival: Draft already available. Bottles TBA

2.8% ABV

 

 

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Beer News, Jester King Brewery

Too Many Bubbles In Commercial Suicide

Jester King Brewing’s Commerical Suicide has a bubbly issue.  The yeast did a little extra work, causing leakage and spewing. (That’s what she said.)  Jester is recalling the recently released bottles.

A few weeks ago, we posted about an issue with Commercial Suicide bottles continuing to ferment beyond the projected finishing point, and becoming overcarbonated as a result. At the time, we did not feel that the issue warranted a full recall, but with extended cold storage, the bottle fermentation would cease and the excess CO2 that resulted from it would most likely get reabsorbed into the beer. Unfortunately, the fermentation has continued to a point where bottles may now be showing significant signs of leakage and may gush extensively upon opening. For this reason, we must ask that any retailer that still has Commercial Suicide on its shelves pull the product immediately. We would also advise any consumers who may be in possession of Commercial Suicide bottles to return them, either to the retailer from which they were purchased, or directly to the brewery. While we do not currently have any more Commercial Suicide to replace the overcarbonated batch, we are currently working on a Farmhouse version, which we hope to have ready sometime this spring. In the meantime, we will gladly replace any unopened bottles of Commercial Suicide that are returned to the brewery during our Saturday open hours with fresh bottles of one of our other beers of equal or higher retail value. Please accept our apology for this issue and for the inconvenience it has caused.

by Reid Ramsay