Jester King Craft Brewery
Austin, TX
Available: TX
Located in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, Jester King Craft Brewery is an authentic farmhouse brewery committed to brewing artisan ales of great depth and character.
ABV: 10.4
ABW: n/a
Color: n/a
Bitterness: n/a
Original gravity: 1108
This 9% beer uses organic ingredients, is unfiltered and bottle conditioned and is suitable for vegetarians and vegans. In the glass, with jet-black body and dense brown foam, it looks like mocha coffee but you won’t find this in Starbuck’s! The aroma has a powerful kick of black chocolate and roasted coffee beans, with roasted grain, burnt fruit and peppery hops. The palate offers tongue-coating sweet grain with a good balance of dark fruit, chocolate, coffee and a solid underpinning of peppery hops. Chocolate dominates the finish but the peppery hop note continues along with dark fruit and roasted grain. One word sums this beer up: wow.
If I’ve ever seen a darker beer, I’m not sure I remember it. Light vanishes into the liquid, which raises a dark brown foam, voluminous and sustained. A blast wave of roasted malt and hops, nearly briny in its intensity, opens the gambit on the palate. Dark fruit flourishes next, bringing a near-sweetness to the center before the whole thing dries into a long bitter cacao finish. Despite a first impression that resembles a motorcycle going off a ramp to its probable doom, this beer floats over the 20 cars and totally nails the landing. A big bowl of vanilla ice cream, and you’re good to go.
Roger Protz is the author of Complete Guide to World Beer and 300 Beers to Try Before You Die. He is a respected beer authority and editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide.
Internationally recognized brewer and expert on traditional beer, Garrett Oliver is the brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery and the author of The Brewmaster's Table.
