In addition to our event tonight wt the Mustache glasses and Jester King Wytchmaker cask wt whiskey soaked oak chips, Black Star will be pouring a fair amount of beer that’s been on wood all week.

From the horse’s mouth:

To kick off our Week of Wood, we’ll be giving away the popular mustache glasses from local beer blogger, BeerTown Austin. The glasses will be filled with a special cask of Jester King Wytchmaker Rye IPA with whiskey-soaked oak. The guys from BeerTown Austin will be in the house, as wells as a rep. from Jester King to answer questions.

We’ll be celebrating the presence of wood in craft brewing by tapping a special keg (or two) each day of the week through Sunday August 28!

Before the widespread use of stainless steel, it is believed that all beers came in contact with wood during the brewing process. Nowadays, brewers create a wonderful depth of flavor by using wood during or after fermentation, many times with what a liquor or wine has left behind, or with the use of wild yeast and sour-creating bacteria. These unique creations are not to be missed!

Mon Aug 22 – Glass Night with Jester King Wytchmaker CASK with Whiskey-soaked oak
A special cask-conditioned version of their Rye IPA, served in BeerTown Austin’s popular mustache glass while supplies last. Guys from both the brewery and beer blog will be at the co-op for the event.
(6.7%ABV; Austin, Texas)

Tue Aug 23 – Crispin Joan Of Arc & Maid Of Orleans
A pair of limited release, unfiltered ciders (one apple, one pear) aged in Sauvignon Blanc oak barrels.
(Minneapolis, MN & Colfax, CA)

Wed Aug 24 – Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron
Imperial Porter aged in special wood from Paraguay that gives this big dark brew very interesting and unique qualities.
(12%ABV; Milton, DE)
& Dogfish Head Burton Baton
An English-style Old Ale and American Imperial IPA blended and aged in oak.
(10%ABV; Milton, DE)

Thu Aug 25 – Ranger Creek Barrel-Aged Cherry La Bestia Aimable
Their Belgian-style Strong Ale brewed with honey, this batch aged in Tempranillo barrels with dark cherries. This is the first time they’ve released this version
(9.4+%ABV; San Antonio, Texas)

Fri Aug 26 – Petrus Aged Pale
Golden Ale matured in oak casks for 1.5 – 2 years with wild yeasts and sour-creating bacteria. A staff favorite!
(7.3%ABV; Bavikhove, Belgium)

Sat Aug 27 – Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti
Their Yeti Imperial Stout with cacao nibs and a dash of cayenne, aged with American oak. Cellared in the keg since April.
(9.5%ABV; Denver, CO)

Sun Aug 28 – New Belgium La Folie Sour Brown
Nicknamed “Rodenbach of the Rockies”, this is a Flanders-style sour beer blended from beers aged 1-3 years in French wine barrels. Revered as one of the best American-made sours.
(6%ABV; Fort Collins, CO)

Looks like an exciting lineup. See you out there.

Sure, the Black Metal, Commercial Suicide and Wytchmaker are all great, but if you’ve been following the progress of the guys at Jester King over the past year, this is the beginning of what we’ve really been waiting for.

This weekend they’ll roll out Boxer’s Revenge  Farmhouse Provision Ale, the first of three authentic farmhouse ales they’ll produce year-round (the other two coming this spring). Boxer’s Revenge is initially fermented with French farmhouse yeast then aged in oak wine barrels with wild yeast  before finally being dry-hopped with fresh Cascade and Centennial hops. Yum.

Boxer’s Revenge will be available at their grand opening party this Saturday, January 29. Count us in. You?

The full story, copy and pasted for your pleasure:

“Jester King Craft Brewery is very pleased to announce the debut of Boxer’s Revenge  Farmhouse Provision Ale this Saturday, January 29th at the brewery’s Grand Opening Celebration.  Boxer’s Revenge is the first of three authentic farmhouse ales brewed as part of Jester King’s year-round lineup.  The others are Das Wunderkind!, a farmhouse “table beer”, and Cocksure, a hoppy, amber farmhouse ale inspired by the French tradition of bière de garde.  Das Wunderkind! and Cocksure will be available in the coming months.

All three of Jester King’s year-round farmhouse ales are aged in oak wine barrels with wild yeast after undergoing an initial fermentation with French farmhouse yeast.  After aging, the individual barrels are blended to taste.

Boxer’s Revenge is inspired by the hearty “stock ales” or “provision ales” produced by some of iconic farmhouse breweries located along the Franco-Belgian border and named in honor of the stalwart workhorse in George Orwell’s Animal Farm.  It combines delicate notes of tropical fruit, citrus and spice from the primary French farmhouse yeast with tart, rustic, earthy notes from the Brettanomyces.  A final dry-hopping with fresh Cascade and Centennial hops adds yet another layer of depth and complexity.

Following Jester King’s Grand Opening Celebration, Boxer’s Revenge will be available on draught at a small number of accounts throughout Texas.  In the months that follow, it will be released as a regular, year-round offering in both kegs and 750mL, amber, champagne-style bottles.  Please see the attached information sheet about Boxer’s Revenge.”

Photo and images courtesy of Jester King

FRIDAY MORNING UPDATE: Spec’s Brodie sold out a few minutes after they opened. The guy on the phone told me they only had 18 bottles for sale for customers. Called Whole Foods, they don’t have it yet, but said they should have it before 1 pm.

Good luck, and save me a bottle, please!

ANOTHER UPDATE: Just confirmed that Whole Foods Downtown will have FOUR cases going on sale TOMORROW (FRIDAY) MORNING SOMETIME. Limit one bottle per.

More info HERE.

UPDATE: Most of you know the bottles released yesterday evening and the only “known” location selling them was Whipin, which promptly sold out by 7:30pm.

I have confirmed that Spec’s on Brodie will get a few cases and will be selling them FRIDAY (TOMORROW) MORNING.

Also, Whole Foods Downtown told me they will be getting four cases and will be selling either THIS AFTERNOON OR TOMORROW MORNING.

I’ll post more info here as I get it.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Made a trip out to the brewery this afternoon to get it straight from the horse’s mouth.

Here’s what I got:

This is a small run limited release of 15 cases of 750 ml bottles that will be available “soon” in smaller accounts.

I expect these to go like hotcakes. Like really really popular hard to find hotcakes.

Nate told me he spent about nine hours bottling these bad boys by hand. I saw the bottler, I’m surprised he didn’t get blisters.

Kevin told me he will make an official announcement about the release date and other info on the (512) blog soon.

ALSO they had some extra 2X Pecan Porter and they put it back in the barrels for a second run of this amazing beer!

PLUS Nate said he’s got two barrels set aside with a TOP SECRET experiment living within. Didn’t sound like this was

something that would be available to buy, more as a test run for future barrel aged goodness.

IN ADDITION to that great info, the guys told me they brewed the first batch of the (512) Alt yesterday and it should be on tap March-ish as the Spring seasonal.

OH AND ONE MORE THING, they are currently in the process of moving their offices upstairs above the cold room to make an additional cold room and will be adding two more fermenters soon.

Ok. That’s it.

Here’s a pic of the barrels.