Vague Recollection (2017)
Jester King Brewery

 

 

Had this at Sour Sunday 2018. This is the Batch #2 Syrah & Sangiovese one.

Pours a honey like color. Does not appear the grapes had a big impact color wise on the beer. Lacked the ability to hold much of a head formation, reduced to a mere film. The nose was pretty cool, I'll legit say this smelled saison-esque instead of the usual warp mode wild sour masquerade saison thing. Had the rustic agrarian vibe to it alongside a rolling hillside of wine grapes. Tuscany MF'r. Good dry finish.

More red and dark fruit notes in the taste, plenty of sourness so it does come back to approaching that wile ale line stepping thing that is all the rage (and I do like it often). Had a gin like botanical mild vibe. The sourness is right around the 5.5/10 line for a saison, 3 for a wild ale. I liked the beer, but Jester King falls in line price wise with where this might be tough to buy an entire 750 for $24-30. I think I'll just bang it at fests.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

almost no color at all from the fruit here, but i think this tastes far more grape and wine forward than did the previous edition that used lenoir grapes. pretty clear from the tap too, but with an awesomely funky nose that makes me recall some grape lambic types i have had both from belgium and italy, really old worldy, rustic, possibly turbid mashed, its bright though, and has a cool tartness from the grape skins, makes my mouth water and its very complex. the flavor is great, i can appreciate these grapes as themselves in here, which wasnt true with the much less familiar lenoir grape, here i get rich plum and raisin notes, blackberry and dried blueberry, black cherry even, all from the grape, and with a nice vinous acidity too. the grain is light, white wheaty to me, some structure but not particularly identifiable in the flavor mix, more bretty funk coming on late, drying this out but enhancing the fruit and carrying on the lambic vibe. straw and hay, late summery dried herbaceousness, the yeast really is awesome here with the grapes. awesome beer here, to me an improvement over the 2016 edition. tons of flavor from the grapes, super mature beer overall. i loved this.

edit: had a five year old bottle of this recently and its changed a lot, way more acidic now, seemingly more tannic from the fruit too, more of that skin character rather than the juice, less vinous more citric, great carbonation here its prickly and tickly and easy. i still get some wheat malt, and i still appreciate the fruit as being more robust than the lenoir edition, that holds true in the older bottles of each as well, but the fruit has definitely faded back or been fermented down in this over time, and its less striking than it was when it was new, just a hint of oxidation setting in too. less refined and nuanced in its old age, but still unique and peppy and fun. there seems to be a two to three year optimal window on these, any longer seems like too long and the sourness really advances...

Had @ Jester King:

Low B- / WORTHY

 

 

Hazy light orange-apricot with a fuzzy, even off-white blanket settling to a bubbly film.

Smell is that classic woody JK funk with notes of grape Gushers, a lemon spritz and apricot.

Taste is tart and sweet up front of red grapes and lemon, souring and funking up in the middle with wood, bittering herbal qualities and black pepper, and crisping up with a mildly thin fizz to a semi-dry finish.

Easy drinking. Simple yet complex and very well made.