Jester King Craft Brewery preps for the release of Gotlandsdricka, a new farmhouse ale. The name means “Drink of the Good Land”, and is purported to be a beer of the Vikings. This beer mimics the farmhouse ales traditionally brewed on the island of Gotland in Sweden, using more herbs and berries. (A lot like sahti is.) For this brew, Jester King used birchwood smoked malt, juniper, and sweet gale. Sweet gale (aka myrica gale) has been used as an insect repellent, and a stomach pain remedy.

…From what we can gather, the original beer would likely have been smokey, sour and reeking of juniper and birch. It would not have been the product of fermentation with brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in a temperature controlled, sanitized stainless steel vessel, which is how our rendition of the style was created. Rather, like all historic beers brewed before the rather recent discovery and harnessing of brewer’s yeast, it would have been the product of fermentation involving wild yeast and bacteria.

Style: Farmhouse Ale (w/ Juniper, Sweet Gale, Smoked)

Availability: The first tapping of Gotlandsdricka will be at the Borefts Beer Festival on September 28th and 29th at Brouwerij de Molen in The Netherlands. It will make its stateside debut a week later at the Texas Craft Brewers Festival in Austin on October 6th and at the Pints for Prostates Denver Rare Beer Tasting IV on October 12th. Following its debut at the festivals, a limited amount of naturally conditioned kegs, casks and gravity kegs will be released in Texas with a wider bottle release to follow. A portion of the bottle release will also be made available through the Rare Beer Club.

Arrival: Late September, 2012

6.6% ABV