分 桃 (Fēn Táo)
Jester King Brewery

1839
Name: Fen Tao
Brewery: Jester King
Location: Austin, TX
Style: Wild Ale
ABV 5.9%
Date: August 2022
One of my favorite breweries, and I am excited to try this sour with peaches. Using a tulip glass, I served it at 48 degrees. An airy one-fingered off-white head was created from the pour. Head retention was nil and left no lacing on the glass. Charting the color around SRM 8, amber yellow with yellow-orange hues, like peach flesh. The clarity is slightly hazy with lots of carbonation. The Appearance is above average for this style.
Nosing the beer, I smell peaches, wood, earthiness, funky barn, acidic acid, lemons, fresh air, and slight fruit sweetness, with some floral. I love the smell of this beer; it is making my mouth water.
Sipping the beer, I taste funky barn, straw, peaches, lemons, lightly toasted malts, wood, floral, grass, and mustiness.
The mouthfeel is dry and tart. The body is medium, has high carbonation, and has a pleasant puckering finish.
This is a fabulous sour peach beer. The peaches are ripe and juicy, nestled in a barrel-aged wild ale. This is why Jester King is great at what they do. I now want to try Snorkle.

 

Pours a bright, appealing, candy orange. Honestly a true delight - the nose gives sweet peaches backed by hints of straw & honey. Naturally the taste is peach-forward; however, it's not overwhelmingly juicy as the peach is balanced perfectly with lactic acid that almost gives it a creaminess. Definitely getting some barnyard funk, hay, lemons, and orange dreamsicle flavor. Definitely tart but keeps me coming back for me. Honestly surprised by how much I loved this one.

 

16.9 oz. bottle poured into Jester King Snorkel tulip
(Blend 10, July 2024)

ABV note — the label says 5% for this batch, not 6.4% as listed on our BA database

L: yellow-gold, crystal clear, almost no head from an extremely lackluster pour ... the beer does show some activity in the glass, but it's not enough to keep even a thin collar of foam; disappointing for a brewery capable of some serious bottle conditioning

S: tart, sour lemons, lemon peel, lime peel with an almost lactic funk ... hay, wet hay, barnyard funk; as it warms, hints of something sweet joins the fray, and as that sweetness grows, it starts smelling like fruit — cantaloupe, melon, maybe peach rind but nothing as sweet as a peach; very classic Jester King profile

T: tart, lemons, not much funk ... it's a clean wild ale more than a funky one, though there is a note of wet grain sacks and old musty hops lingering in the background; as it warms, it has a pinch more sweetness, almost like the wet grain sacks are pushing in a little sweet vibe

F: surprisingly solid after such a flat-looking pour; it's light, arguably watery but very nicely crisp from a thin layer of carbonation; it's borderline perfect for the style and works nicely with the dryness of the beer; as the beer warms, unfortunately it feels like it's flattening out quickly, and the score here is dropping quickly — I was ready to give it a 5, but I think the truer reflection of what's going on here is a 4

O: I'm both a little disappointed yet also extremely pleased with this beer; the good news is it's right in line with Jester King's wild ale profile, plenty of funk, plenty of tartness, a nice pinch of sweetness to balance the more challenging notes and a mouthfeel that's fitting for the style to start off with; the bad news is there's little to no peach flavor, which is possibly my fault for waiting so long to open it; I don't think this beer is meant to age but to drink as fresh as possible, and from now on I will be drinking all of my JK wild ales ASAP; still a solid farmhouse ale however you add it up

2024-12-23
500ml bottle served in a pair of WABL sample glasses. Blend 10, July 2024. Bought it about two months ago at Full Throttle Bottles.

Pours clear yellow with a brassy amber tint to it, almost no head, moderate active carbonation with basically zero retention. Smell is peach, stewed peach, peach preserves. Maybe a little on the unripe side.

Taste is juicy peach, again a little on the unripe side, rather subtle. Oak and hay is quite noticeable, tartness is not quite as powerful as I would like but in the right ballpark.

Mouthfeel is dry, smooth, still. Overall, very nice.

 

A: A permissible neckpiece that fails to stabilize, based on the appropriate causes: attenuation; PH; hydrophobic polypeptides. Even so, the rapid 1/2” declares a calla lily tone, before hurriedly abandoning to cellar, while a calm disturbance is applied. On the underside, the anatomy discharges on the hues most analogous to an Amanita Jacksonii, as a workable/petite transparency develops around canary colorations. The additive contributions continually press peach pigmentations to varying degrees, which directs the highlights through late illuminations

S: A microflora fingerprint to channel the wild aspects that endorse top-fermenting yeast, across a refermented oldness. This plays to the advanced stages surrounding bacterial strains, which policies ester developments. A vintage that is then peach deprived, as the current state has evolved to lessen the additive’s presence aside the residual sugars, for a native maturity. Nonetheless, the existence is headmost attainable, by way of an grenadine to peach variation, while nearing torani syrups. A picture that comes with an oak governance, when detailing a colophony (lupulin) effect, as the diastatic enzyme conversions – softly – middle. Accordingly, an earthy ruralism through bunker silos, for contextualizing the grains upon a harvest-driven bill. The output maintains a stone fruit existence to the vintage, while coalescing the phenolic compounds upon a commanding position. To that extent, there is a pathogen headway aimed at 4-EP with a 4-EG sensitivity, when neighboring the >3hr position. An entailment that scripts the rabbity ingenuities alongside affinage (cave-aged) cheeses, while prompting malodorous crawl-spaces

T: Oak lactones to coat the insertion, as the wort compositions fraction above the saccharifications. A sharp acidic environment that comes with elderliness, when easing complex sugars upon a rustic granularity. Nevertheless, there is a peach monopoly to kick things off, which writes rose peach tartlets, before approaching the balmier increments. Such leveling necessitates at a 74°F distance, where peach curd situates above creamed honey. Correspondingly, an aeriated impact on causticity that provides a new sleekness, while the wild microorganisms coalesce. A ethyl phenol consideration with a phenyl ethyl importation, beyond the isoamyl octanoate notations, before advancing on ethyl acetates. The progressed states on oxidation offer an oak-aged reflection to Viognier, which is delicate against the white flower to blossom signals, as a eugenol substance lingers. Chiefly, a substance that’s serene on vanilla, when pitching nutmeg & cloves on the dead tissues that divulge honeydew vines. The phenolic considerations have a continuous growth pattern, for lending livestock blankets to fetid attics, as the advanced stages on acetates lend a quick chemical solvency. Sequentially, a hydrolysable refurbishment, which weathers the curriculum through leathery provisions, while guaiacols echo

M: There is a calm rain to sidewalk arrangement, for addressing minerals upon broken down stones. Beneath, a sharp effervescence with an astringent coarseness that eases across the hour, when siphoning carbonation across the degassed competences. Thus, the frame is continuously acclimating, and nears a smooth medium, before pitching the tannin constitutions to an evolved – attenuated – dryness

O: A terroir-driven evolution above the peach insertions, yet fermentable complications that are careful to not overhaul. Correspondingly, a bacterial involvedness with a heightened concerto, as the grain bill eases coarseness under the rural hop drivers, beyond the wild oak endurances

 

 

Murky orange pour with only off white surface islands for a cap. That taste is really nice in how juicy and bright the peach is, oak, big yogurt funk, and light barnyard funk compliment. Nose is much the same, slightly less funky, but somehow even more fruity with an accent of pear. Feel balances the playful sourness, oak backing and funk well, dries out through the sip, though not as complex feeling. Quite enjoyable, would be perfect in late spring

 

Pours out a hazy orange, some transparency, with no discernible head or lacing. The nose Haseeb the promised peach, and a strong balsamic vinegar note that backgrounds in the flavor to a tart peach core. Finish is clean. Delicious with my pulled pork sandwich, a real treat.

 

Appearance - The beer poured a golden color with little visible carbonation.

Smell - Floral peaches came through in the nose with little hint of acidity. There was some sweetness in the nose.

Taste - Peaches. The profile was led by fresh peaches. The light acidity toward the back was pleasant. It had a slightly vinegary, dry finish, which cancelled the sweetness.

Mouthfeel - The carbonation was oddly light, but the body had some staying power.

Overall - This is a sour I can drink.