Snörkel
Jester King Brewery

 

 

Pours the lightest yellow I think I've ever seen. Fairly clear and very carbonated. Aroma is hard to pin down -- salt is present but I detect notes of sour lime. Taste is thin with a floral character. For a light bodied beer, this has more than expected body and flavor.

Canned 1/19/23

A mushroom beer, what a strange one to have on Tavour. Man, it’s been a long time since I’ve had one of those. I’ve only had one, and it was over 3 years ago, an old bottle of Smuttynose Satchmo. I thought it was alright but weirdly watery. Now, if Jester King is putting mushrooms in a Saison, I have a much better feeling

Pours a cloudy pale yellow with 2 fingers of white head that fades to a ring and leaves minimal lacing

The nose is bright and funky, with the sea salt being the leading adjunct rather than the mushroom. I’m picking up on aromas of smoked malt, wildflower honey, sea salt, apple skin, floral hops, cracker, earthy mushroom, and light lemon zest

The earthy side of the funk is much more prevalent in taste, but is still wonderfully balanced. On the front end of the sip I’m tasting earthy mushroom, bready malt, apple skin, sea salt, floral hops, white pepper, light brine, and honey. The swallow brings notes of sea salt, wildflower honey, earthy wheat, smoked malt, cracker, earthy mushroom, lemon zest, and light black pepper

A light medium body pairs with moderate carbonation, resulting in a snappy and bright beer. Finishes bone dry with an earthy funk

This is super unique stuff, a really interesting use of mushrooms in a beer but it just makes sense style-wise. A weird but wonderful beer fitting for 4/20

 

Clear, golden yellow body; sparse carbonation; thin, frothy head, white. Slight wild aroma infused with fruity esters; green apple and pear. Light sweetness counterpointed with a light phenolic edge; mild fruity esters. Medium body; glass smooth mouthfeel; modest amount of dryness.

I didn't really pickup anything with smoked sea salt or oysters. An okay beer at best.

Pouring temperature: 46 °F; canning info: PKGD 01/19/23
Source: local purchase (Coaltrain Fine Wine, Craft Beer & Spirits)

Can into snifter
Look: slightly hazy straw yellow pouring a 1 finger head which dissipated into a thin cap
Smell: Pale ale ish, hoppy, Smokey, brine
Taste: Lightly tart, herbaceous hops, smoked salt, and a savory earthy finish
Feel: light body, moderate carbonation, crisp
Overall: just wasn’t my jam

 

1864
Name: Snorkel
Brewery: Jester King
Location: Austin, TX
Style: Saison
ABV: 4.3%
Date: 01/19/2023
The beer made me follow Jester King; I wanted to know the brewery that used mushrooms to make this creation. After taking a trip to Texas, I visited this brewery to take in the experience. I was told they just canned this beer. I am game, give me a glass and let bliss ensue. The beer did not disappoint. It is the next beer on the table to review. I opted for a tulip glass and served it at around 44 degrees. The pour created a frothy and airy two-fingered bright white head with above-average retention. Bits of lacing was left on the glass from the slow dissipation. Charting the color around SRM 2, pale straw with a light golden hue. The presentation was beautiful.
I smell crackers, earthiness, floral, and a hint of salty air.
I taste a slight mushroom musk, earthiness, floral, salt, a light farmhouse, salt, crackers, and a hint of bay leaves.
The mouthfeel is dry and crisp. The body is light, has a medium carbonation, and finishes quickly.
I might be in the minority here, but I love this beer. The mushroom brings out the earthiness, which gives the beer a unique character. I feel the salt puts the beverage into balance. A refreshing crisp beer for a breezy summer night.

First one and long anticipated from Jester King. A beautiful clear golden pour. Terroir on the nose - a little bit of mushroom musk. The taste is more classic table farmhouse beer. I get a little bit of the salt on the backend, not much mushroom (probably a good thing), and a crispness and carbonation of a lager. Overall this is a very drinkable and interesting beer. Very well executed.

Poured from a can into a pint glass

Appearance - The beer pours a hazy straw color with a large puffy white head. The head has a decent level of retention, fading slowly over time and leaving a moderate amount of foamy lace bubbles on the sides of the glass.

Smell - The aroma is heavy of a very funky with a cracker base aroma on top of a whole heaping lot of smoke and barbeque. Along with these aromas comes the smell of the sea as well as char. The mushroom aroma is rather potent as well, bordering on the side of smell like rotting mushrooms. Not a very pleasant aroma…

Taste - The taste is as bad as I was anticipating from the nose. It begins with a light cracker malt flavor that is paired with a big seawater and sauteed mushroom like flavor. As may have been expected from a farmhouse, there was a hay and funky flavor mixed with some sour vinegar and lime. There are also some smoke flavors upfront, with these getting stronger as the taste advances. The sour funk intensifies toward the end as well, and with some vegetal and oaky tastes coming in at the very end, one is left with a very interesting, kind of off, but yet, still somewhat enjoyable taste to linger on the tongue.

Mouthfeel - The body of the brew is thin and crisp with a carbonation level that is prickly and very effervescent. For the very odd mix of funk, mushrooms, smoke, and seawater I think the feel is actually quite accommodating, not allowing any to overwhelm, but to all exist in balance (well sorta..).

Overall – A very odd brew. I don’t think I will go back to it again, but it certainly is unique and I am glad I tried it.

 

Ever since I found this beer while going through the Jester King lineup, I promised myself I would review it when I had the chance, since I am a huge fan of oyster mushrooms. Served 55degF into a goblet from can.

L: A golden haze. Pour brings a cascade of fine bubbles to the surface of the beverage, producing a fine, creamy head that dissipates within a few minutes.

S: Sea spray, barnyard/hay, a chardonnay sourness with slight hop florality.

T: First hit is a strong, leathery mushroom note punctuated by barnyard funk. Not getting any smoke from the salt. A light malt flavor and floral hop bitterness builds on the tongue with a session, like a good lager, and this cuts through the barnhouse funk that splashes over the tongue with each sip and brings more layers out of the woodsy, leathery mushroom flavor. Again, there is a hint of chardonnay character to the sourness, which is tamed by the mushrooms and has no bite. As it warms over the course of the session, it opens up with more sweetness, like a white wine coming to temperature.

F: Creamy, almost oily consistency that coats the tongue but is saved at the last second by a mild, drinkable carbonation and a light dryness. An extremely drinkable beer.

Overall, this is not my typical style of beer, but it was a unique experience worth trying. Definitely a sure win for Bret heads, but also an interesting wild ale for someone who is a fan of lagers. The way the malt flavor builds on the palate really saves what comes off first as nothing but a gimmicky farmhouse-style ale.

750ml bottle. Label notes this batch is from 'DECEMBER 2021'. Eruptive opening.
Cloudy, straw colored body. Two fingers of shimmering white head sticks around. Small partial walls of lacing.
Aroma has lemon/orange sitting on top of funk - leather, grassy, and horse blanket. Meat-like note from the mushrooms.
Taste has the salt sprinkled over the entire taste profile, with a little smoke. Lemon and funk, with the mushroom meat. Quite unique. Like a Gose but more funky. A little citrus and salt in the aftertaste.
Medium mouth feel, quite effervescent. A little dry. Bottle conditioned for excellent carbonation.
I can see the Saison inspiration but the combination of flavors is this beer's alone. Easy to drink but must tolerate funk and salt.

 

 

Batch #4. Poured from a bombrer into a Dogfish Head tulip

L: Hazy light golden pour with a finger of fizzy white head. Falls fast... modest lacing.

S: Funk and citrus mixed with fruit.

T.F: Modestly tart... funk and citrus fruit. Lemongrass, rind, spice, and yeast. Not picking up much mushroom.. maybe that's the wood-like notes. Effervescent carbonation. Light bodied with faint salt and more funk at the finish.

O: A decent saison... good mix of flavors and super drinkable at 4.3% ABV.

A nice light golden hazy color with a slight head and lacing.
Aroma has yeast, sea salt and oyster mushroom hints.
The taste follows the nose with a very well balanced slightly tart oysters mushroom and sea salt flavor
A light bodied well carbonated beer
A nicely balanced easy drinking Saison

 

 

2019 vintage.

Pours a very pale custard color. Opaque and quite cloudy. A thin soda like white head fizzles in and the right back out as the beer is poured. No head is retained. The surface of the beer shows some carbonation bubbles popping as it sits.

The aroma is interesting - it’s got some wheat notes with a distinct tartness followed almost immediately by a salty cascade across the nose. The resulting aroma is far more reminiscent of a gose than what you’d normally expect from a farmhouse ale. But it’s quite nice.

Taste follows the nose in that you get the wheat malts you front followed quickly and simultaneously by a tartness and an assertive saltiness. Again I can’t shake the gose comparison here as that is what it reminds me of so much. The mushrooms do not really shine through, but rather are present in an earthy umami like quality to the flavor profile. The flavors drop off quickly on back end giving the impression of an abrupt finish.

Feel is light to moderately bodied. Effervescent, vibrant, and very carbonated. Mildly tart, but not quite enough to really produce a puckering sensation. Semi-dry with an abrupt finish.

It’s tough to rate to style on a beer that is so unique. So, taken on its own merits it’s a delicious beer and well worth tracking down and trying.

 

 

Again I raise my tulip glass to the creativity of The Jester King.
This saison was bottled in July 2018, so I'm guessing they have released it at least twice including its 2014 debut. I think that may be important because it seems like they improved the recipe from 2014 as I do not find the basis of several of the critiques from those reviews. Also, 2014 experimented with unusual ingredients and by 2018 they were figuring out how to put them together.

For example, the smoked salt is not heavy; it probably complements the mushrooms better now than before.
As for the salt/gose and wheat/weiss, these are better in three seasons... so my bad for a deep February tasting.

I find this a refreshing, tart and well-balanced saison. Its unusual ingredients are well-orchestrated. While Jester King seems tight-lipped about their yeast, it seems they used a dose of Brett... making the traditional saison foam and protein swirls a challenge.

I originally thought I didn't pair Snorkel that well. Having mushrooms, Snorkel should pair well with a stewy dish with mushrooms. Instead, I had it with a Greek spinach pie; light, but Snorkel paired well with the earthy spinach and goat cheese. (And Greek food also tends to be salty.)

Would I have Snorkel again? Probably not; but not because of its quality or, even, its price. (And price does make it rare for me to have a Jester King brew twice.) The real problem more is: too many saisons, too little time. Cheers to Jester King ! May their Brett always be tart, but not sour !

Poured from a magnum 1 pint 9.4 ounce bottle from the June 2019 batch, a lemonade/grapefruit color. No head. Has the sour saison aroma. The taste is sour and very unique for beer. It has a thin and fizzy mouthfeel. Overall I liked this with my homemade mushroom soup. I would buy this again to pair with food.

 

Drinking at Cobble & Spoke in H-town. It drinks more like a sour w/the 1st taste. With each additional sip you get the slight taste of smoked sea salt & oyster mushrooms. This is the 1st beer from them that didn't seem too weird.

 

 

 

Look: Very pale, opaquely hazy yellow. One finger of foamy white head with decent retention.

Smell: Sour and salty, barnyard funk, lemongrass.

Taste: Surprisingly gentle, almost closer to champagne. Lactic acid, mild wheat malt, lemon peel.

Mouthfeel: Smooth and highly carbonated.

Overall: While the smell is scary, the taste is incredible and barely even like beer.

 

From a 750 ml. bottle into a PAA Dino glass, this beer pours out like a very light, foggy lemonade. Really beautiful color. One finger worth of bone white crown rests on top. 4.75

The nose carries a light sea salt evident throughout while a funky barnyard presence is evident as well. Crisp wheat and straw. While I love that funkiness, my wife apparently hates it as she walks through the kitchen and says “ugh that smells like a skunk, go drink it outside” haha. 4.5

The taste is balanced beyond beauty. Crisp, light crackery wheat mixing with dry straw notes. The funkiness from the nose doesn’t show up much and I’m surprised I don’t detect much “oyster mushrooms” throughout as I was a little nervous about that addition.4.25

The mouthfeel is light, with a very still carbonation until it hits the throat and livens up with airiness. Touch of salinity followed by a greatly accenting touch of light acidity. 4.5

Overall, this is just a great drinking beer. Period. 4.5

Look: a crystal-clear yellow-straw color with a thick white head. The foam slowly settled and there were champagne-like bubbles constantly rising from the bottom of the glass.
Aroma: lemongrass, bread, and a faint earthy element that was hard to describe.
Taste: moderately tart up front with lemons and limes. Some grassiness as well. The malt was faint and mostly white bread. There was a subtle earthiness and nuttiness on the finish. The salt was there on the back as well, and the finish reminded me of a Gose.
Feel: light on the palate with lively carbonation. Fairly dry and clean finish.
Overall: a fun and tasty beer. Drinks like an earthy Gose.

Jester King Snörkel, 4.3% ABV. Pours pale cloudy golden with a one-finger white head that left no lacing. Nose is slightly funky, mushroom, citrus, and malt. Flavor is moderately tart citrus, salty, and earthy. Excellent mouthfeel, though a bit heavy on carbonation. Overall excellent to near outstanding.

Bottle, batch July, 2018:
Light white haze disrupts the clear light straw body, more at the thicker parts of the glass. It doesn’t block much light, and the gasses flowing up the glass are easily visible. A loose head of white bubbles doesn’t grow too tall, but keeps a thin cover over the beer.

The nose starts with a punch of sour citrus, lime and lemon. There’s a hint of smoke and earthy funk when I inhale more deeply.

The beer is light, as expected, but the tartness keeps things from being boring. Carbonation is moderate and competes with the sour for which adds more bite to the tongue.

Hay and lightly crackery malt join the sour notes that have their puckering strength quelled a bit by warmth. A light salinity is noted, but the farmhouse nature keeps this from straying too far into Gose range. Lime, Granny Smith apple, a bit of yogurt tang, farmhouse hay, a little salt, and a weak earthy note underneath.

My initial sips I thought this might have a little too strong of a sour component. As this part tapered off a little, I found the beer much more refreshing. This beer is a year old in some respect (not sure if the “batch” is bottled date or not), but that does not appear to be much of an issue.

 

The palest of golden straw colors with a green highlighter touch to it. Not perfect clarity, but damn well near it. Tine bubbles constantly race to the surface to no avail, as the bone white bubbles they try to support above disappear in a flash.

Not picking up on the mushroom or smoke necessarily, but definitely getting the salinity. Tart lemons, a touch of wood, and some funk with added level of earthiness perhaps thanks to those oyster shroomies...

Definitely a meatiness to it along with a strong salty brine. Those dominate over citrus zests and a faint light grainy cereal in the finish, yet all the flavors still manage subtlety.

A nice balance of puckering tartness, salty and funky bites, and a smooth residual sweetness. Nice and dry with minimal carbonation makes this go down rather quickly.

This beer had long intrigued me and I thought I'd never have the opportunity to try it. Low and behold, here we are. An enjoyable beer, but somewhat disappointing. Would have loved to see these mushrooms and perhaps that alder smoked salt shine just a bit more. Bottom line, good beer but not worth the price tag in my opinion.

Cheers.

 

All the earth, all the brine, all the funk and the fauna. Everything that's both prized and challenging about wild ale is not only met but exacerbated with the help of Jester King and their Logro Farms neighbors. Their mushroom, brine and campfire character takes sour ale where it's never been before.

Foggy chrome is how the ale pours as its muddled darkness though the center is a prelude to the eggshell froth the billows above. A mild mannered sweetness bounces off the front of the tongue with aspect of wafer, sourdough and cereal after its briny scent of sod, soil and sea air first captivates the nose.

Fruity on the middle palate, the ale's natural ester qualities include apple, pear, grapefruit, lemon and pineapple, all seeming of the branch dried, weathered variety. A spicy counterpart of black pepper, hay and vinous alcohol sharpen the senses while the bubbles keep the ale lively and phenol forward. The subtle hints of mushrooms and salt add a rounded salinity and smoldering simplicity to the beer's complexity along with a mossy, woodsy taste late on the palate.

Light in body despite the earth and salt flavors trying to keep flavors and textures elevated, the ale drinks like a ale version of a dirty martini- briny, earthy and refreshing all at once. A quick finish of dry baguette, champagne and subtle smoke resonate short and sour on the after palate.