Jester King Blueberry FAIL

Discussion in 'Southwest' started by UtisTheLaw, Mar 12, 2014.

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  1. UtisTheLaw

    UtisTheLaw Pundit (840) Jul 26, 2012 Texas

    I'm glad to see them posting this, and the reasoning why they chose to drain pour the beer, rather than trying to sell it to us.

    http://jesterkingbrewery.com/blueberry-fail

    Blueberry FAIL

    [​IMG]
    Texas blueberries refermenting in an oak barrel

    We consider ourselves an experimental brewery. Part of what this means is we dump beer down the drain from time to time. If we were selling every drop of beer we made, that would mean we’d be selling you our failed experiments, which would not be cool.

    Back in August of 2013, we refermented blueberries from the Tyler, Texas area with mature, barrel-aged, sour red ale. Unfortunately the beer turned acetic, which means it developed harsh, vinegary flavors. Acetic acid is our mortal enemy at our brewery. We despise it in beer. Our goal for all of our barrel aged, wild beer is for there to be a soft, lactic acidity. We go to great lengths to keep the development of acetic acid in our beer to an absolute minimum, primarily through temperature control of our barrel room. But sometimes, we still end up with beer that’s acetic, and sadly in the case of our blueberry refermentation, down the drain it went!

    We’ll get more blueberries this summer and try again. We think we can make some changes to hopefully keep the beer from going acetic. Specifically, we relied on carbonic maceration of the blueberries with our first effort. Next time we plan on crushing the blueberries prior to refermentation. We may freeze them as well next time in order to potentially reduce amount of acetobacter, which is responsible for the production of acetic acid, on the skin of the fruit.

    We of course like to make it known when things go right with our fermentations, so it’s only fair that we shed some light from time to time on when things go wrong! We’re just happy we can tell you this without you having to find out for yourself after purchasing the beer.

    [​IMG]
    Texas blueberries prior to refermentation
     
  2. WTKeene

    WTKeene Initiate (0) Jul 13, 2013 New Mexico

    The Bruery would have released this to their Reserve Society and hyped it up as ridiculously sour. It would have quickly earned a spot among the most traded-for beers from the West Coast, despite tasting like carbonated vinegar. Kudos to Jester King for holding their sour beers to a higher standard. There is a right way to do sours and a wrong way to do sours. Bottling and selling carbonated, fruited vinegar is the wrong way.
     
  3. greenspointexas

    greenspointexas Initiate (0) Jan 16, 2011 Texas

    In before "kudos to jester king for not selling crappy beer!"
     
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  4. WTKeene

    WTKeene Initiate (0) Jul 13, 2013 New Mexico

    In after*
     
    air, tx_beer_man and jbeezification like this.
  5. mattisloco

    mattisloco Maven (1,294) Feb 13, 2007 Texas
    Trader

    Would have banged.
     
  6. jbeezification

    jbeezification Initiate (0) Jun 6, 2012 Texas

    I wouldn't have minded them holding a single keg and giving it away at their tasting room rather than just dumping the whole thing. It would have been at least interesting but maybe that's the drinker/ticker/brewer/madman in me.

    Also I'm cool with the jokes about there being a man in me. Lol.
     
  7. elbrooksie

    elbrooksie Initiate (0) Jan 10, 2013 Texas

    I totally would have paid $16 for that.
     
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  8. Can_has_beer

    Can_has_beer Initiate (0) May 14, 2013 Texas

    I wonder if it had so much acetic acid in it that it was rendered unsafe to drink?
     
  9. jbeezification

    jbeezification Initiate (0) Jun 6, 2012 Texas

    So kind of like Buddhas Brew?
     
  10. Daemose

    Daemose Maven (1,407) Oct 3, 2011 Texas

    I've known about this for a while now. #humblebrag #walezbro

    All joking aside. I would've bought some blueberry malt vinegar.
     
  11. jesterkingbeer

    jesterkingbeer Pundit (841) Jun 28, 2010 Texas

    It was fine to drink. It was just acetic beer.
     
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  12. Daemose

    Daemose Maven (1,407) Oct 3, 2011 Texas

    Buddhas Brew is my favorite beer. We had a bottle the other day and it was amazing.
     
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  13. thewrongtone

    thewrongtone Initiate (0) Oct 15, 2006 Arkansas

    That's a bummer.

    Should have made salad dressing or put it on fish and chips.
     
  14. kbuzz

    kbuzz Initiate (0) Jan 22, 2011 North Carolina

    I don't know why I've had this in my head for so long, nor do I know the source...but aren't there no known pathogens that have ever been proven to exist in beer? Because of the environment, I didn't think anything could even survive in beer to make one sick...
     
  15. Daemose

    Daemose Maven (1,407) Oct 3, 2011 Texas

    Watch "How Beer Saved the World". They make beer with Duck Pond water.
     
  16. nsheehan

    nsheehan Savant (1,182) Jul 3, 2011 Texas
    Trader

    I definitely respect the excellence (and nothing less) that Jester King puts out, but I would've been happy to try this beer, and pay a nominal price. It would have been edifying to see what acetobacter can do.
    Perhaps just a fee to recoup materials, or a collection for a donation to some charity that benefits the local area.

    Were there other considerations such as time and space that contributed to the dump of this batch? Or was the beer nearly done and "close to kegging"?

    Also, did someone else write the blog post?
     
  17. jacobbocce72

    jacobbocce72 Initiate (0) Dec 18, 2011 Texas

    Next time you guys want to dump a beer, use my mouth as the drain. Wait... that sounded weird.
     
  18. reverseapachemaster

    reverseapachemaster Zealot (722) Sep 21, 2012 Texas

    Take a beer of your choice and add malt vinegar to it. That will give you a pretty good idea.
     
    nsheehan likes this.
  19. WickedSluggy

    WickedSluggy Savant (1,105) Nov 21, 2008 Texas

  20. cfrobrew

    cfrobrew Initiate (0) Oct 9, 2012 Texas

    Hmmm that gives me an idea for the next kombucha I make that comes out too acedic. Let it keep going for salad dressing... mmm home made vinaigrette!
     
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