Cornbread Kvass
Jester King Brewery

Pours a slightly hazed gold with a pinky of cream colored head. Minimal head retention & lacing

S: Wet grains, wet grass, some horse blanket shows up late

T: A little dry, a little tart, a bit of pineapple acidity & raspberry & a little dryness, certainly has some cider-like qualities to this up front. Lemon & pineapple qualities as this beer warms up, some dryness & tartness. Finishes with some wet grain ( millet ), slight acidity & lemon

MF: Light body, lively carbonation, some acidity

New to me style that takes some liberties vice the original formula. Reminds me a lot of Faro beers in many respects. Not sure this sort of beer would be more than novelty act for me. Drinks easier than I suspected it would which is great. No one in my house would help me finish this

 

Pours a cloudy, bright golden coloration with a large, fluffy head and visible carbonation. Smells of light doughy malt, some fruity esters and a distinct, lemony acidity, as well as herbal accents. Taste is a good balance of light doughy malt, some fruity esters, with notes of green apple and gooseberry, a distinct lemony acidity and subtle herbal accents, with hints of lavender and rosemary. Finishes with a medium tartness and some gooseberry and lemon zest lingering in the aftertaste. Smooth mouthfeel with a light/medium body and medium/strong carbonation.

This makes for quite a light, easy-drinking and rather acidic brew that seems to have a lot more in common with a Farmhouse Ale than what my understanding of a Russian Kvass was, being a much more dark, malty and sweet beverage that is much lower in alcohol volume as well. However, I'm really not sure which is the more authentic Kvass: this or those mass-produced Russian drinks that honestly feel more like soda or malzbier than beer. In any case, this is very much dominated by the lactic bacteria, with that lemony acidity really standing out here and somewhat drowning out anything else, although hints of fruity esters and herbal accents are intermingling with it as well. While this is pretty far away from what I expected, I'm not one to judge how authentic it is or aims to be. It's a pleasant, refreshing Farmhouse Ale that feels a bit one-dimensional due to that strong lemony acidity though. Of course I also realize that this is 18 months old now and the flavor profile may have shifted, although earlier reviews indicate that it was always heavy on the lactic bacteria.

 

 

 

such a cool idea for a beer, another reason to love these guys. the style is typically done with rye or sourdough loaves i believe, but in this instance they used house made cornbread, so cool! this bottle is batch one from may of last year. super pale brew with a very light looking body, a golden glow, and a soft haze to it. huge white head rises up and is constantly fed by all the carbonation, looks great in the glass, light and refreshing for a hot day. the nose is typical jester king funk, very little acidity, some wet animal and light lemon, really summery and different. the flavor is great, and i think i definitely appreciate some cornbread in here, its sweet and earthy and definitely more baked than toasted, fluffy feeling even, and i get a little of that buttermilk funkiness believe it or not, cool with the brett this features. its clean for being kind of wild and fermentation forward, its highly effervescent, and the body is minimal, this drinks almost healthy to me, really good. i dont know if i expected this to be more dramatic in terms of flavor, but i find myself being quite pleased with its minimal nature and subtlety, its unique without being in your face. an impressive offering and a very cool take on an already fascinating style, idea and execution both fabulous, extra points for making their own cornbread for it!

Cornbread Kvass from Jester King Brewing. Purchased on 17/5/21 from Spec’s on DeZavala. On room temperature shelf at store. $ 14.06 (including tax)/25.4 oz bottle ($0.554/oz) stored at home at 42 degrees. Reviewed 20/5/21. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Marked “BATCH #1 MAY 2020” on label. Served at 54.8 degrees in a hand washed and dried glass coffee cup. Final temperature 57.5 degrees.
Appearance – 3.
First pour – Pale straw (SRM 2), clear, nearly colorless
Body – Deep Gold (SRM 4), hazy. When rear-lite, pale straw, hazy, marked effervescence.
Head – Large (Maximum 4.5 cm, aggressive center pour), white, medium density, average retention, diminishing to a five to ten mm crown and a thick complete cap. Subsequent pours produce about three cm high density heads.
Lacing – Fair. Torn curtain lacing with tiny bubbles. Lacing from subsequent pours tends toward three-dimensional sheets.
Aroma – 3 – Very faint yeast and lemon.
Flavor – 3.5 – Begins slightly bitter with lemon and a hint of buttered cornbread, no hops, no malt, no yeast. No ethanol (4.5 % ABV, marked on container) taste or aroma. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 4 – Medium, creamy, soft but lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.5 Meh.

 

Interesting beer as one would guess. Definitely a funky wild ale. A touch of sweetness, no sourness of note, but a very dry finish. Very clean finish as well. Glad that I got to tick off a Kvass style of beer finally.

 

 

Poured out entirely into 2 Belgian tulips, it displays an only finely foggy, mostly clear golden-yellow with a tall airy foam head slowly settling to a frothy surface with a bubbly collar leaving spongy lacing all over.

Lemony with a mild but pleasantly herbal brett funk, this kvass is absolutely quenching and crushable. It’s really exceedingly, unexpectedly herbal through and through, sort of like lavender, but several sips in, there’s a touch of wild mint here or there, kind of like an Altoid accent, but in no way offensive whatsoever.

The medium-light body has an expanding, filling fluffy froth that quietly disappears to a cleanly just dry finish exhaling a touch of fresh baked crust, which is the primary point at which the cornbread is expressed, so don't go into this thinking you're going to drink a glass of liquid cornbread.

Overall this is a refreshing farmhouse ale with a very light kiss of tartness, finishing semi-bitter.

God damn I could drink a Jester King saison every day of the week and never get tired of it.

 

 

 

 

Kvass is a Russian beer style similar to the French/Belgian Saison/Farmhouse Ale. It is perfect for hot weather. It is thirst quenching easy drinking.

Look: semi clear yellow with a two inch white head

Aroma: lemon, yeast

Taste: The flavor is corn, lemon, perhaps a hint of yeast, mild grassy bitterness at the end. It is not too tart, it is just enough to make a tasty hot weather beer, and it is a lot more interesting than a corona with lime. I think it is delicious.

Body/Overall: light to medium bodied, easy drinking, thirst quenching

 

Batch#1 May 2020
poured from their standard bomber to a tulip bc i felt fancy.

pours a hazy straw yellow gold body and an excitable billowing soapy white foam head with high retention that settles in to a finger-thick steadfast mountain range of fluffy foam. settles to a patchy marsh of foam after about 20 min. leaves behind thick soapy patches of foam lacing.
smells of lemon, light cornmeal, bready malt, and that famous JK yeasty farmhouse funk
taste is a lemon with a small slice of cornbread. tart with a little dig of sweetness, light bready and caramel malt, funk layered within the tart as a finisher.
very high carbonation, medium-side-of-light body, dry yet sparkling finish that coats in circles on the cheeks and tongue with funk.

overall:
this essentially translated as a "lemon beer" - for better or worse. for me, it was quite pleasant and I would hands down buy it again and recommend to anyone who enjoys the idea of lemons. there was honestly very little "cornbread" to be had here, as it translated to more of a background note than anything prominent. in fact, had it not been advertised, I would have never pegged it. there is a familiar cornmeal-funk-sweetness present for sure, but the tart and farmhouse funk are so UPINYA that it comes as a deep cut/fun fact rather than a feature.