Jester King - Repose

I'm with yall, I was kinda worried about it too but I loved it. Will be back tomorrow for sure.

 

The lifeblood of this beer is Biere de Garde, and we'd argue we've created one of the more traditional, authentic versions out there with Repose. - Jeff

 

Would this compare to JP's Biere de Mars?

 

can't wait to make it up there next friday.

 

I was very hesitant to try this beer when I heard originally what was in it,but my hats off to your crew. Job well done, great interpretation of the style.

 

Great Job Jeff. One of the best yet. My favorite beers you guys make are the ones that call back to more traditional styles and their roots.

 

Soooo, how is this traditional? It is made with hay and partly fermented in brandy barrels, how have I missed this very traditional method of making Biere de Garde? Still really interested to try it, but saying this traditional is like saying late Coltrane is traditional jazz

 

We appreciate the opportunity to respond in a forum thread, as we don't have that capability with comments made about our beer in reviews of other brewery's beers.

First off, I wrote that in our opinion, Reposé is more authentic or traditional than other commercial examples of Bière de Garde out in the market. The exact quote was, "...we'd argue we've created one of the more traditional, authentic versions out there..." It would be silly for us, or any modern, American brewer, to claim complete authenticity. None of us were of course around to taste these beers as they originated in northern France and southern Belgium centuries ago. What we can likely surmise, however, is that Bière de Garde, and other traditional farmhouse ales, were products of the surrounding land, and therefore, were unique to the particular breweries where they were made.

The water used by farmhouse brewers centuries ago most certainly wasn't from a treatment plant nor manipulated by reverse osmosis or the addition of mineral salts. Brewing grains likely came from the surrounding fields and were locally malted, rather than being grown and malted thousands of miles away. Hops, which were likely harvested months before the winter brewing season, were not stored in airtight bags in a deep freezer, as modern refrigeration had not yet been invented. Lastly, and most importantly, these traditional farmhouse ales were by no means products of pure culture fermentation with brewer's yeast from a laboratory. If not fermented spontaneously, they were beers teeming with a host of native microflora.

The water used to brew Reposé, or any of our beers for that matter, came straight from our well with no manipulation whatsoever. We simply take the very hard (~600 ppm total hardness) water from the limestone-based Trinity Aquifer, heat it, and send it to our mash tun. We don't filter it, soften it, or manipulate it with salts. We take what nature gives us and use it to make beer. On a side note, I really enjoy the minerality of our beer, and find it most prominent in our lower gravity beers like Le Petit Prince.

When it comes to brewing grains, while our close relationship with Blacklands Malt post-dates Reposé, almost all our grains are locally sourced. Blacklands Malt, the first and only micro-maltster in Texas, supplies us with malts grown in Georgetown and Hutto and malted in Leander. The soil in which these malts were grown, as well as the particularities of the malting process used by Blacklands, contributes to making beer with a unique sense of place.

A portion of the hops used to brew Reposé were removed from airtight containers in a refrigerated environment, placed into burlap bags, and allowed to become dried and heavily oxidized at ambient temperature over the course of several months. The hay, a secondary characteristic of the beer to be sure, smelled reminiscent of the aged hops, and was selected with the traditional mindset of using the ingredients from the surrounding land to make beer.

Finally, and most importantly, Reposé is the product of a long, slow fermentation, predominantly in wooden vessels, with native yeast and bacteria harvested from the air and flora around our brewery. It is not a product of pure culture fermentation with a single-strain yeast ordered from a laboratory. Not only do we give native yeast and bacteria all the time they need to impart unique characteristics in the beer, we allow the beer to fully attenuate. Reposé has an apparent attenuation of 93%, and most or our beers reach 100% or greater apparent attenuation. This is important not only because we think very dry beer is appropriate to the style, but also because it highlights a rather unfortunate modern trend in which brewers conduct quick fermentations over the course of just a few weeks with cultured brewers yeast, then attempt to mimic the complexity of longterm fermentation by adding spices.

So yes, we do indeed consider Reposé to be one of the more traditional, authentic versions of Bière de Garde commercially available. - Jeff

 

Go Jeff!

 

You're making a mockery of the BJCP standards.

 

Thank God. Beer would be incredibly boring with strict construction of standards.

 

Good stuff, and if you knew my affinity for late period Coltrane, you would know I was complementing more than judging. Still don't know how the use of a non traditional ingredient like hay makes this authentic, but in '66 Coltrane was just as likely to pound on his chest and shout while soloing, instead of playing the tenor

 

Sounds fantastic, will this last until next weekend?

 

I would think so with 4500 bottles produced.

 

I was very surprised by how good this one was as well. Had some great dark fruit and dried cranberry notes/flavors to it with a nice dry finish.

 

So, how long before we see some branded versions of the new glass style?

 

Even with the early reviews, I am quite stunned how good this is. I would expect this to age very well, and I have enough room on that credit card to get more and save.

 

Going to need to get out there

 

Jeff think this will hang around until Saturday March 14th?

 

My buddy is going this weekend to get some. Think it will be around?