Estival Dichotomous (2016)
Jester King Brewery


- From:
- Jester King Brewery
- Texas, United States
- Style:
- Belgian Saison
- ABV:
- 5.1%
- Score:
- 89
- Avg:
- 4.04 | pDev: 3.47%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 3
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Jan 05, 2022
- Added:
- Nov 05, 2016
- Wants:
- 1
- Gots:
- 3
We’re pleased to introduce 2016 Estival Dichotomous. For this year’s Estival Dichotomous, we added grapefruit and tangelo zest to some mature, barrel aged sour beer. We then blended the barrel aged sour beer with citrus zest with young fresh beer fermented in stainless steel. Finally, we refermented the blend of old and young beer with a small amount of marion blackberries.
As followers of Jester King know, we’re fond of the technique of bière de coupage, which historically often involved blending young beer with old, sour beer. We like this technique because of the flavor profile of the blend, and because of the microbial impact the old beer has on the young. For the fruit addition, we used a relatively small ratio of fruit to beer, about half a pound of marion blackberries per gallon.
At the time of packaging, Estival Dichotomous was 5.1% alcohol by volume, 3.9 pH, 1.000 specific gravity (0 degrees Plato), and 25 IBU. It was packaged in bottles, kegs, and casks on September, 7th 2016 and has been naturally conditioning over the last two months.
As followers of Jester King know, we’re fond of the technique of bière de coupage, which historically often involved blending young beer with old, sour beer. We like this technique because of the flavor profile of the blend, and because of the microbial impact the old beer has on the young. For the fruit addition, we used a relatively small ratio of fruit to beer, about half a pound of marion blackberries per gallon.
At the time of packaging, Estival Dichotomous was 5.1% alcohol by volume, 3.9 pH, 1.000 specific gravity (0 degrees Plato), and 25 IBU. It was packaged in bottles, kegs, and casks on September, 7th 2016 and has been naturally conditioning over the last two months.
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Reviewed by TX-Badger from Texas
4/5 rDev -1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4/5 rDev -1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Pours a hazy/cloudy darker reddish color with off-white light pink head. Funk, tartness, citrus, and some berry notes on the nose; follows onto the palate. Medium bodied. Finishes with a tartness, yet dry.
Apr 20, 2017Reviewed by Thomas_Wikman from Texas
4.24/5 rDev +5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.24/5 rDev +5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
I really liked the previous Estival Dichotomous and this one was good too.
Look: semi-clear copper-reddish with a thin white head.
Aroma: The aroma is yeasty and fruity with melon, blackberries and citrus.
Taste: It's earthy, fruity, citrus and tart, and the blackberry, tangelo, watermelon, and grapefruit flavors all come through. It is tart but it is milder than last year’s Estival. I say it is great this year too.
Feel: It is light, a little fizzy, tart, easy thirst quenching drinking
Feb 06, 2017Look: semi-clear copper-reddish with a thin white head.
Aroma: The aroma is yeasty and fruity with melon, blackberries and citrus.
Taste: It's earthy, fruity, citrus and tart, and the blackberry, tangelo, watermelon, and grapefruit flavors all come through. It is tart but it is milder than last year’s Estival. I say it is great this year too.
Feel: It is light, a little fizzy, tart, easy thirst quenching drinking
Reviewed by Premo88 from Texas
4.07/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
4.07/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
12 oz. poured from bottle at brewery
L: hazy red-orange ... unique ... an amber dyed red or burnt orange lightened by a lot of red; pushes up 3/4-inch head of offwhite and pink-tinged foam that sticks like glue; it looks super hazy until held up to sunlight and it's about 70% clear; keeps a thickish collar of foam, again pink-tinged, and laces some
S: the lighter side of Jester King, this year's Estival Dichotomous has a soft funk sweetened by some cantaloupe or watermelon way in the background; grapes, watermelon, raspberry start playing more with it as it warms, adding fruity sweetness to the musty barn signature JK aroma ... in fact, there's a lot of must and some wet grain sacks but very little earth or dirt or mud, nothing bitter, and that fruit sweetness envelopes the funk; it's like a funky Jester King candy
T: much more earth and dirt than the nose, wet soil under an oak tree it's so earthy at times, but there's a watered-down watermelon flavor giving it a sweet note that makes you want to search for more; like the nose, the earthy flavor is "soft" as is the musty barn/oak wood flavor, though over time yeast starts dominating; not as tart as it is earthy
F: feels a bit flat but that's partially because my palate just finished handling a carbonation-heavy brew; over time as my palate readjusts, it turns out to have plenty of carbonation to help fill out the mouth -- lightweight otherwise
O: fantastic nose and an absolute beauty of a brew, this one never fully converts the nose into flavor -- it tries, ironically more when it's cold than as it warms, but the base flavor that takes over has very little of the fruit from the nose; still, there's a little of that fruit in the flavor, and the base flavor has less lemon/lemon peel and less barn must than a typical JK brew ... more earth and raw oak wood; a solid attempt and another fine edition to a great line of beers, the Dichotomouses
Jan 23, 2017L: hazy red-orange ... unique ... an amber dyed red or burnt orange lightened by a lot of red; pushes up 3/4-inch head of offwhite and pink-tinged foam that sticks like glue; it looks super hazy until held up to sunlight and it's about 70% clear; keeps a thickish collar of foam, again pink-tinged, and laces some
S: the lighter side of Jester King, this year's Estival Dichotomous has a soft funk sweetened by some cantaloupe or watermelon way in the background; grapes, watermelon, raspberry start playing more with it as it warms, adding fruity sweetness to the musty barn signature JK aroma ... in fact, there's a lot of must and some wet grain sacks but very little earth or dirt or mud, nothing bitter, and that fruit sweetness envelopes the funk; it's like a funky Jester King candy
T: much more earth and dirt than the nose, wet soil under an oak tree it's so earthy at times, but there's a watered-down watermelon flavor giving it a sweet note that makes you want to search for more; like the nose, the earthy flavor is "soft" as is the musty barn/oak wood flavor, though over time yeast starts dominating; not as tart as it is earthy
F: feels a bit flat but that's partially because my palate just finished handling a carbonation-heavy brew; over time as my palate readjusts, it turns out to have plenty of carbonation to help fill out the mouth -- lightweight otherwise
O: fantastic nose and an absolute beauty of a brew, this one never fully converts the nose into flavor -- it tries, ironically more when it's cold than as it warms, but the base flavor that takes over has very little of the fruit from the nose; still, there's a little of that fruit in the flavor, and the base flavor has less lemon/lemon peel and less barn must than a typical JK brew ... more earth and raw oak wood; a solid attempt and another fine edition to a great line of beers, the Dichotomouses
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