Since its debut in 2010, Jester King has defied categorization. Entering a hop-obsessed landscape, owner Jeffrey Stuffings and his crew embraced the atypical by introducing funky, earthy, high-acid beers like Boxer’s Revenge, a barrel-aged sour strong ale that was more Champagne than IPA. That risk-taking, (dare we say) punk aesthetic has only grown over the years, both physically and philosophically.

The repurposed, 100-year-old ma- chine shop that Stuffings and his brother Michael Steffing converted into a farmhouse brewery has become a sanctuary for the organic and unusual. After purchasing 58 adjacent acres in 2015—the remainder of their Ceres Park Ranch home—Stuffings doubled-down on his Dripping Springs fiefdom, adding another 107 acres last year. Concerned with the encroaching development spreading throughout Central Texas, the brewer not only pre- served the surrounding green space, he transformed Jester King into a near self-sustaining ecosystem.

On the brewing side, gone were any pure culture fermentations or yeasts sourced from a lab. Across its extensive lineup, Stuffings turned to a mixed culture of brewer’s yeast, native yeast, and native bacteria in order to showcase Jester King’s very particular terroir. Fruits and herbs grown on the property—now a bona fide working farm—are often thrown into the newest releases. And working alongside designated farmer, Sean “Peppy” Meyers, Stuffings has carved out a hop field where they’re experimenting with drought- and pest-resistant varieties such as Columbus and Neomexicanus.

“The main thing we have going in our favor is that we let our natural surroundings dictate what our beer smells and tastes like,” Stuffings says. “Whatever the flavors and aromas of our hops may be, we’ll gladly embrace them.”

That uber-provincial spirit has even infiltrated the burgeoning food scene at Jester King, where chef Damien Brockway and head baker Amanda Loadman utilize the brewery’s mixed culture in the on-site restaurant’s breads and pizza dough. Located in the former home of Stanley’s Farmhouse Pizza, Jester King’s now-eponymous restaurant mirrors the ethos of the brewing program, with dishes centered around local produce (some grown right at the source), fermentation, and Old-World techniques.

“Their directive is to breathe life into our philosophy when it comes to the food,” Stuffings says. “Essentially, that means using local agriculture and microflora to create something closely tied to time, place, and people.”

With an eclectic lineup of wild and spontaneously fermented ales that straddle the line between beer and natural wine, it should come as no surprise that Jester King’s next evolution will come in the guise of grapes. Granted, Stuffings’ Spon line—beer-wine hybrids that incorporate Texas-grown albariño, muscat, and others—have already laid some of the oenological groundwork. But now the flirtatious partnership between the categories will materialize in two distinct divisions—all under the Jester King moniker.

Overseen by wine program director, Traci Walker (along with help from consultant Lewis Dickson of La Cruz de Comal Winery), the brewery has planted almost four acres of vine- yards on the property. Unlike most wine operations in California or Europe, the vines of Black Spanish and Blanc du Bois (along with 16 other varietals) have been planted 5-feet apart to ensure healthy root systems that can find water in the land’s most arid times. The soil has also been fertilized with a compost that includes the brewery’s signature mixed culture, a symbiotic addition they believe will add more complexity to the final product.

“We’re not planting with yield in mind,” Walker says. “We’re doing whatever it takes to make interesting wine.”

Realistically, uncorking a bottle of Jester King wine might be two to three years down the road, but that hasn’t stopped Stuffings’ team from other endeavors, including a plan to make cheeses and body lotions from the sur- rounding flora and its herd of foraging goats. Nothing, apparently, is too eccentric or quixotic on planet Jester King. That is, as long as it speaks to the sharp, rugged terrain where it all originates.