Jester King Vernal Dichotomous

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We’re pleased to introduce 2015 Vernal Dichotomous — a blend of mature barrel-aged beer brewed with rosemary, lavender, and spearmint with young farmhouse ale refermented with Texas kumquats. 2015 Vernal Dichotomous is our fifth seasonal saison, and our first inspired by the spring. The Dichotomous series is our effort to present sensory characteristics from the various seasons of the year through beer. The particular season (in this case, spring) is representative of the time of year from which the beer received its inspiration, rather than, like most seasonal beers, when it is released. This is because our Dichotomous series, like all our beer, isn’t fermented in mere days or weeks using pure culture brewers yeast. Instead, it slowly ferments and develops over the course of months in the presence of our mixed culture of brewers yeast and native yeast and bacteria harvested from the Texas Hill Country.


For 2015 Vernal Dichotomous, we once again returned to the practice of bière de coupage, which involves blending or “cutting” old beer with young. In fact, the old beer we blended had been aging in oak barrels at our brewery for over two years. It was originally brewed in November 2012 with rosemary, lavender, and spearmint, and comes from the same old barrel stock we used in the blend of2014 Hibernal Dichotomous. The old barrel stock was blended with young farmhouse ale refermented with kumquats. Here is our Head Brewer Garrett Crowell, in his own words, on his inspiration for 2015 Vernal Dichotomous and his decision to use kumquats:


“Spring is always a ‘fresh’ season to me, with everything tender and green. I felt the kumquats and the floral barrel-aged blended beer would approximate the delicate air of blossoming trees and flowers. The kumquats are the most springlike ingredient in the beer, as they were picked only a few days before going into the beer. So there is this interaction between the sensory and agricultural aspects of spring, that oftentimes are tangents of one another. There is even a metaphorical evolution of this season when tasting and smelling the beer. First you smell the flowers, and then the kumquats, just as you’d smell the citrus blossoms on the citrus tree followed by the citrus itself.”


The blend for 2015 Vernal Dichotomous contains old beer brewed in November 2012 with Hill Country well water, barley, wheat, hops, rosemary, lavender, and spearmint, and young beer brewed in March 2015 with Hill Country well water, barley, spelt, and hops. Both the old and young beer was fermented with a mixed culture of microorganisms consisting of brewers yeast and native yeast and bacteria harvested from the air and wildflowers around our brewery. As mentioned, the young beer was refermented with kumquats. 2015 Vernal Dichotomous was blended shortly before packaging on April 20, 2015. It is 100% naturally conditioned in bottles, kegs, and casks. 2015 Vernal Dichotomous is unfiltered, unpasteurized, 5.4 percent alcohol by volume, 20 IBU, 3.95 pH at the time of packaging, and has a finishing gravity of 1.001 (0.3 degree Plato).


2015 Vernal Dichotomous will be released at Jester King when our tasting room opens early for the holiday weekend at 12pm on Friday, July 3rd. It will be available by the glass, as well as to go in 750ml bottles ($14/bottle, limit 3 per customer per day). Approximately 3,700 bottles are available, and at this point, we do not anticipate 2015 Vernal Dichotomous being available outside of our tasting room, aside from special events. The label art was created by our own Josh Cockrell.


Texas kumquats


Head Brewer Garrett Crowell cutting kumquats