Announced today on their Facebook page.

Das Wunderkind! Sour Saison labels have arrived. We can’t wait for you to try our first unpastuerized, unfiltered, bottle conditioned wild ale aged in oak barrels with native, Hill Country wild yeast and souring bacteria.

This is the one we’ve all been waiting for. If you were among the lucky folks to get some of this last fall at the Texas Craft Brewers Fest or one of the few locations it was on during Austin Beer Week, then you know this beer is the real deal.

“We’re pretty proud to now have bottled a wild ale from our barrel room,” said founder Jeffery Stuffings. Awesome. Looking forward to seeing this on shelves around town. No word on where to find it yet, but in light of the TABC lawsuit ruling, I’d expect to get word from the brewers themselves as soon as it’s available.

The brewers also announced new beer Mad Meg, a farmhouse provision ale.

From the horses’ mouth:

Also known as “Dulle Griet” or “Dull Gret”, Mad Meg is a peasant woman from Flemish folklore 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.
Mad Meg is simple in terms of ingredients with French pilsner malt, wheat, a touch of caramunich and acidulated malt, Czech Saaz hops and our farmhouse yeast. It is golden colored and quite strong at over 9% ABV (we can tell you the strength now!). The palate intertwines delicate farmhouse esters with earthy, spicy hops and clean malt flavors.
Mad Meg will be available beginning this week on draught at select locations around Austin, followed by a statewide bottle release once the beer has conditioned through re-fermentation in the bottle, label approval has been received, and the labels have been printed.

Alright. Exciting stuff. Go get it.

We’re still recuperating and vacationing following Austin Beer Week so things are a little slow. Thus, news of the copy/paste kind.

Last night Jester King announced a new beer, Noble King Hoppy Farmhouse Ale. Then they went on to talk about a lot more. The highlights:

• Noble King is a medium strength, dry, golden ale brewed with their farmhouse yeast, and an abundance of noble, European hops.
• Noble King is “thoroughly hoppy, yet elegant, dry, balanced, and drinkable.”
• Noble King will debut this Saturday (Nov 5) at the tasting room, followed by a draught and cask-conditioned rollout around the state. Bottles expected late November or December.
• The “farmhouse” Wytchmaker and Black Metal released during Austin Beer Week will eventually replace the English ale versions as Jester King works towards using the same house yeast for all beers.
• They’re working on a new Farmhouse Table Beer, followed by a limited release Farmhouse Strong Ale, new Farmhouse Provision Ale, and farmhouse version of Commercial Suicide.
• After seeing the results of time spent aging with wild yeast and in barrels, Jester King is now describing Das Wunderkind! as a “Sour Saison” and Boxer’s Revenge as a “Barrel-Aged Wild Ale” as opposed to farmhouse ales.
•  Das Wunderkind! will see a small bottle release in the upcoming months.

For all the details straight from the satyr’s mouth, read below or visit the Jester King blog.

This Saturday, November 5th, during our weekly tasting room hours and tours, our newest beer, Noble King Hoppy Farmhouse Ale will be available for sampling. Noble King is a medium strength, dry, golden ale brewed with our farmhouse yeast, and, as its name suggests, an abundance of noble, European hops. We’re all very big fans of the subtle, delicate earthy flavors of classic European noble hops, and particularly enjoy the way that those flavors interplay with the character of our farmhouse yeast. Though the hops in Noble King are front and center, they don’t overwhelm the palate, the way some high alpha (highly bitter) New World varieties sometimes can. This results in a beer that’s thoroughly hoppy, yet elegant, dry, balanced, and drinkable. Following Saturday’s debut, it will be available on draught and cask-conditioned at a small number of venues and special events around the state, with an anticipated bottle release some time in late November or December.

If you were at any of our Austin Beer Week events or our Funk’n Sour Gravity Fest, you may have noticed a few other new additions to our lineup, as well, including “farmhouse” editions of Wytchmaker Rye IPA and Black Metal Imperial Stout, which will ultimately replace the English ale yeast versions that we’ve been brewing up until this point. The strain of farmhouse yeast that we use is much more difficult to work with and more sensitive to environmental variables than the English strain, but we believe that, when handled correctly, it adds an extra layer of character and complexity to the finished beers. Using the same house yeast for all of our beers also allows us to manage and reuse that yeast much more effectively. Over several generations, it will continue to evolve and adapt to the particular environmental conditions of our brewery, contributing its own unique terroir to all of our beers. This house terroir is something that we feel is part of what it means to be an authentic farmhouse brewery.

In addition to Noble King and the farmhouse versions of Wytchmaker and Black Metal, we also have a new Farmhouse Table Beer that’s currently in the works, to be followed soon by a limited release Farmhouse Strong Ale, a new Farmhouse Provision Ale, and a farmhouse version of Commercial Suicide Dark Mild. Some of you may recognize the terms “Farmhouse Table Beer” and “Farmhouse Provision Ale” as having been applied at one time to two other beers that we showcased during Austin Beer Week: Das Wunderkind! and Boxer’s Revenge. When we first formulated these beers, we had a particular vision in mind for each of them, but after extended aging in oak barrels with wild yeast and souring bacteria, Das Wunderkind! and Boxer’s Revenge quite literally took on a life of their own, and as we continued to sample them, those visions began to change. Eventually, we felt that the terms “Farmhouse Table Beer” and “Farmhouse Provision Ale” no longer captured the essence of what they had become, so we decided to change those descriptions. Das Wunderkind!, we felt, had become a very good example of a sour saison, of the sort Yvan De Baets talks about in Phil Markowski’s book, Farmhouse Ales, so we decided to label it “Sour Saison”. (Look for a very limited bottle release of Das Wunderkind! Sour Saison sometime in the upcoming months.) Boxer’s Revenge has not been bottled yet, but when it is, we plan to go with the more straightforwardly descriptive designation, “Barrel-Aged Wild Ale”.

Our new Table Beer and Provision Ale, which we haven’t yet named, will be “sibling beers” to Noble King, made with similar malts and hops, and our farmhouse yeast, but with the Table Beer lower in ABV and more sessionable, and the Provision Ale much stronger and better suited to cellaring. Ultimately, all three beers will become part of our regular, year-round line up. At the same time, we will also continue to produce Das Wunderkind!, Boxer’s Revenge, and a variety of other “wild” beers, but we will do so without any pre-announced release dates or promises of consistent supply, so that we can give them the time they need to mature and, as we’ve said all along, let them tell us when they’re ready to be packaged and released.

The local breweries are setting out to make this years Fall Beer Fest a hit. It’s looking like Jester King will have some of the first production runnings of Das Wunderkind!  among one offs and rare beers from 512, Independence and Ranger Creek. I had the chance to taste the excellent Morgul, a barrel aged porter, at the Real Ale/Freetail festival about a month ago. Keep an eye out for that one. This fest has been a great event in the past and with the beer lineup they’ve put together it’s promising to be the best four year old’s party you’ll ever attend. Food and a selection of full pints will be available to purchase as well as the wide variety of beers you’ll  be able to sample. Head over to The Saucer’s site and buy your tickets before Sept 22 for a $5 discount.

(512) Brewing Double Pecan Whiskey Porter
Circle Epic
Independence ESB - Firkin and  All Seeing IPA
Jester King Das Wunderkind! – Firkin
Live Oak Oaktoberfest
Real Ale Blanco Morgul -Firkin and Barrel Aged 14th Anniversary
Ranger Creek T.Rex – Firkin
St. Arnold Ellisa IPA – Firkin

Check out Austin Beer Guide to see the full lineup of  beers to be served at the festival. Be sure to follow the Austin Saucer’s twitter feed (@FlyingSaucerAus) throughout the day for tapping times and additional news about the event.

Here is our coverage of the previous two years at the FS Fall Beer Fest…

FSFBF 2010

FSFBF 2009

Yup. Those asshole homebrewers* finally made good on their word and are now brewing production beer.

Thursday, September 23rd marked their inaugural batch.

From the horses’ mouth:

On Thursday, September 23rd, five months after breaking ground at the site, the brewery began production of its first batch. Appropriate to the farmhouse setting, the inaugural brew is farmhouse ale called “Boxer’s Revenge”, in honor of the stalwart, hard-working farm horse in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Boxer’s Revenge is an oak barrel aged wild beer that is golden in color and brewed with Belgian pilsner malt, American hops and French Saison yeast. Following the initial fermentation, it will be dry-hopped with a blend of Cascade and Centennial hops and transferred to neutral, French Oak wine barrels for additional

fermentation and aging with a blend of wild yeasts. The finished beer will be quite dry and effervescent, with an anticipated ABV of 7.5%.

I caught wind of the virgin brew and took liberties to crash the event. Here’s a video of Mike and Jeff pitching the yeast for their first starter. [As this wasn't a proper media event I wasn't prepared, thus this poor video is via my iPhone...]

Along wt the brewing announcement, the JK boys have revealed that they have done a pretty complete overhaul of the beer lineup. There is still a RYE IPA and the “Das Wunderkind!” is still there (although as a completely different beer).

More from the horses’ mouth:

Boxer’s Revenge is the strongest of three Franco-Belgian inspired farmhouse ales that will be part of Jester King’s year-round lineup. Along with Boxer’s Revenge will be Das Wunderkind! – a “session- strength”,unspiced, farmhouse saison at roughly 4% ABV and Cocksure – a slightly darker, stronger, heavily-hopped farmhouse pale ale brewed with all European noble hops. All three beers will be aged in French oak barrels with the addition of wild yeast. The starting lineup will also include two Anglo-American inspired beers brewed with English ale yeast – Commercial Suicide, a 3% ABV British-style dark mild, partially fermented in new, American oak barrels and Wytchmaker, a 7% ABV Rye India Pale Ale.

JK is slotted to be present in many of the upcoming October beer events, so I’m assuming we can expect to find their beers popping up around town in the next few weeks-ish.

There was a little celebrating after the yeast was pitched and the wort put to bed in the fermentor. Mr. Jeff Holt (Wort’s Going on Here?) caught the aftermath in an image the next day.

*THIS IS AN “INSIDE JOKE” BETWEEN JESTER KING AND BEERTOWNAUSTIN. WE DON’T THINK JEFF AND MIKE ARE ASSHOLES, DON’T THINK HOMEBREWERS ARE ASSHOLES, AND HAVE DEEP RESPECT, ENCOURAGEMENT, AND JEALOUSY FOR ANY HOMEBREWER TRYING TO GO PRO.

The good fellas at Jester King had us out for their ground breaking party a little over a month ago. It wasn’t an official media event, but we still got some nice photos, so I will post them here.

These are pre slab and warehouse build.

All photos courtesy Shawn Phillips, who in a few weeks will become the official BTA Honalulu correspondent.

MIke was not present at the ground breaking as he was attending the Craft Brewers Conference in Chicago at the time. Check out his write up of that experience on the Jester King blog, which these days is updated more often than this one.

The guys had burgers, hotdogs, and plenty of beer. They were pouring the Das Wunderkind, the RYE IPA, an experimental double IPA, the La Danse Macabre, the Masquerade Red, and maybe one more I forgot. Remember I wasn’t taking notes as it wasn’t a media event.

Todd from LoveJoy’s also brought out a keg of his Pale ale. It was very nice. Todd is making some good beer these days, go check it out.

Much thanks to Jester King for having us out and for all the blog love they share wt BTA.

Watch out for a cool JK announcement later this week.

Look who’s 21… It’s Over a Pint. Finally legal. We’ve been voting, smoking and purchasing adult media for a while now, but at last, we don’t have to ask homeless guys outside the gas station to buy us beer.

And our first legal beverage choice, being 21, came from the noblemen Jester King. Last we heard from the Brothers Jester, they were completing fundraising and tweaking recipes. Currently, they are preparing to break ground on their land in southwest Austin, ramping up the third Jester, Joe Madia, awaiting the arrival of their brewing equipment, finalizing their brews for launch, and crossing all their “t”s and dotting their “i”s for TABC.

Wow. These guys have been some busy bees.

So Jeff, Mike, and Joe had us out to their land to try some beers and show us around. Watch the video for the good stuff, but here’s a brief recap.

Meet Joe. He’s from Pittsburg, was Jeff’s roommate at Notre Dame, just finished up medical school, is in charge of the artistic direction, will be assisting Michael in the brewery buildout, and is an all around solid guy (I actually first met Joe at Draught House when he approached our table with a pitcher of Deschutes Obsidian Stout ready to share.) He’s a solid guy, and I regret besmirching his meat-eating-rep on the last podcast.

Jester King plan to break ground March 1, expect to receive their 35 barrel brewhouse and fermentation tanks in may, and will hopefully be brewing beers for us to drink August, 2010.

Speaking of, the gentlemen Jester brought out a few beers for us to try (this is why we got into this whole beer blogging business!) We had Das WUNDERKIND!, La Danse Macabre, Impaler Vlad, and an experimental watermelon wheat.

Das WUNDERKIND! was excellent as usual. It’s a very well balanced, sessional, hoppy wheat, perfect for, uh, er, everything. Maybe not driving. They plan to release this as a year round offering in cans. You should be looking forward to this.

La Danse Macabre, their Russian Imperial Stout, has improved, in my opinion. A bit hot with alcohol last time I tried it, this past taste featured more of the coffee, anise, and chocolate flavors from the malt. The guys are tossing around the idea of making this a once a year seasonal release, possibly on Día de los Muertos, in 750ml bottles.

Impaler Vlad. I have been craving this beer since that day in June when I first read the description on their website. And it did not disappoint. A belgian style ale brewed with blood oranges and French oak chips soaked in pinot noir, Impaler Vlad is rich, dynamic, and refreshing. As you drink it peels back multiple layers of citrus, pinot, and smooth oak. I believe this will be distributed in 750ml bottles.

We also had a Rye IPA with flaked rye, crystal rye, and malted rye nicely hopped with chinook, simcoe and centennial hops. Jeff explained that they had originally planned on doing a traditional American IPA, but fell in love with the complexities of rye and stuck with it. They didn’t specify, but I expect this hoppy rye treat to be served in cans.

I won’t elaborate too much on the watermelon wheat, since it was just an experiment. Don’t read into this that it wasn’t good, but just to be fair, I don’t want to commit anything to the Internet about it. I’ll say this; it was refreshing and different. I had the 21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon this past week, and the Jester King experiment WAS NOT A CLONE of this beer.

Jeff explained that they plan on launching with the Das WUNDERKIND!, Rye IPA, La Danse Macabre, and possibly a saison. They also mentioned they are kicking around the idea of hosting a contest among homebrewers for an additional fifth beer in their lineup.

We’ll post a cool video/photo collage (like this one) of the land soon, but I’ll just say that it’s good country out there. They have room to expand, great surroundings, easy access from 290W, and a great beer hall ready for tastings and events. From the beginning, Jeffery and Michael have been adamant that they want the brewery to be a communal destination, hosting music, dinners, tours, tastings, and various events the likes of which we have not yet seen in the Austin beer scene (they alluded to something similar to what these guys do.)

Geez, lots of writing. Watch the video already. More images and a little background on this OAP bellow.

Objectively speaking, we’re big fans of these guys and can’t wait to see their beers on the shelves and taps around town. Cheers, guys and thanks for having us out!

We’re all drinking Jester King beers in the video, soon enough you can too. Until then, crack open a cold one and join us over a pint.

[Not much of a back story. This was the third Over a Pint taping we did with Jester King. The first one recorded with no audio, the second one was based on an event that couldn't happen, and this one is perfect!]

Oh yeah, and we all went to Salt Lick afterwards.

Jeff and Mike are brothers. Jeff used to be an attorney. Mike, an investment banker. Now they’re homebrewers. Spring 2010 they will be head brewers and owners of Jester King Craft Brewery.

This is what freedom’s made of. This is why we support the troops. Here are some brothers that are taking the “and the pursuit of happiness” part serious.

The Story

Summer 2009, I caught wind of some homebrewer assholes calling themselves “Jester King” thinking they could own a brewery. “That’s cute,” I thought and remembered when I first started homebrewing and had high hopes of one day slinging my own beers at some brew pub that would only exist in middle earth, Mos Eisley, or on the set of Back to the Future 2. Then I got an email from a guy named Jeff introducing himself and Jester King. Since getting married, I have made a conscious choice to be nicer, and decided to give Jeff and Jester King the benefit of the doubt. Jeff had us over to his house, introduced us to his brother Mike (whom I called Doug for a long time) and grilled us some burgers.

Then he let us try his beer. And it is damn good (you might think the free burgers might have swayed my opinion of their beer, but after tasting the beer, the burgers were just a blur).

And I’m not the only one who thinks so.

The Back Story

Jeff started homebrewing in 2004 when he was a defense attorney in Boston. In 2006 he and his wife moved to Austin, and after a brief stint working for a firm downtown, Jeff did what most homebrewers only dream of, and quit his job and began raising funds full time to start his own craft brewery. His brother Michael quit his job as an investment banker in Chicago and moved to Austin to join the new family business.

Who hasn’t fantasized about quitting your job and starting a craft brewery with your brother?
Gah! I would be satisfied with just having a brother! (no, offense Amy and Becky).

The brothers Stuffings are starting a brewery in Austin, TX.
They’ve been crafting their recipes (an impressive repertoire so far), brewing with Love Joys and Real Ale, and raising some funds. Lots of funds.

From the Horses Mouth

“This seems to change often,” said Jeff “but as of the moment we have sold 33 out of 38 shares putting us bout 87 percent of the way to reaching our goal of $500,000.”

That’a a lot of Ks.

The original plan (as spelled out in the video) was to begin brewing Summer 2010. At the rate the Stuffing bros have been raising capital, it may be sooner than that.

“Spring to Summer of 2010 is the projected launch date,” Jeff said. “It’s hard to say right now, but we might be able to break ground on the brewery at the ranch before the end of the fall. We project it will take six to nine months after that.”

Ranch?

“Jester King will be building the brewery on some ranch land in southwest Austin next to a future olive orchard and peach grove,” said Jeff.

I don’t know about olives and beer (martini wit?), but I do like peaches in it and the Jester King guys have been experimenting with a blonde peach recipe.

The Beers

As Jester King and Jeff and Mike have come up in conversation over the past few months, one question that has surfaced more than once is “What do they have to offer that Austin doesn’t already have?”

Ok. First, that’s a dumb question. If you’ve ever been to any of the better beer towns you know that local competition among brewers is a good thing. Why? Because it pushes them to make better beers. Also, there are so many possible subtle differences within the beer styles there is room enough for more than four IPAs, two brown ales, two wits, two hefeweizens, and a handful of similar seasonals. Just because Left Hand makes an Imperial Stout doesn’t mean Oscar Blues shouldn’t have the Ten Fidy.

Second, yes, they do have something to broaden the local palate. They are a business and are planing on making money, so they will be brewing the expected styles like IPA, Hefeweizen, and a red ale. Additionally, they have an exceptional Imperial Stout, a tasty rye ale, and, my favorite, an extremely drinkable, yet flavorful hopped wheat aptly named Das WUNDERKIND!
These were the ones I tried. On the website, Jester King lists seven different styles including a belgian beer made with blood oranges and aged in pinot noire barrels and a high alcohol brown that tastes of toffee pudding.
The beers I tried were mostly exceptional. A few needy tweaking here and there, but the brewers were the first to point that out.

In Closing

Since the Jester King backyard grilling/brewing/tasting last September, [the objective train is now derailing] we’ve spent more time and imbibed more beers with Jeff and Mike and like them more and more. Even if their beers were undrinkable, we’d still like these guys. A better beer couldn’t be made by nicer people.
Back to being objective (really? we’re a blog). Jester King plan to open a full production brewery and bottling or canning line in early to mid 2010. They’ve made the local rounds, and from what I can tell, have some good people in their corner.

Here’s to seeing some new local representation in the beer aisle and on taps around town,
Cheers, guys!

Brewing with Jester King

Jeff and Mike brewed a batch of their Masquerade Red while we were hanging out. We made a video.
It’s not an intensive “how-to-brew” vid (we were playing corn hole and missed the boil and hop additions!)
This video will only appeal to a certain demographic; if you’re in that demographic, enjoy.

[video by JIB, images by Shawn, words by Chris]