Jester King Brewery Releases Biere de Blanc du Bois

Jester King will be releasing its latest sour beer, Biere de Blanc du Bois, on Friday, December 19th at its Austin brewery.

It is being described as a ‘barrel aged, sour beer refermented with Texas-grown Blanc du Bois grapes”. And I know what you’re going to say: When does a sour beer stop being a beer and become a wine, especially with the inclusion of grapes? That’s a great question, so we’ll have to taste its complex flavors come release day.

It is the brainchild of Jester King’s Head of the Barrel Program, Adrienne Ballou. The Jester King blog gives more insight into the process behind this latest release:

“During her time at Jester King, she has implemented numerous wine making techniques into our fermentations, including our use of punch downs during our fruit refermentations. Punch downs lead to better flavor and color extraction from the fruit during refermentation and aid in keeping acetic acid development (think vinegar) at bay. Bière de Blanc du Bois is one of the special projects that Adrienne has worked on over the last several months. Here is her description of the inspiration, process, and presentation:

‘At the start of this year’s past harvest, our friend Doug Lewis, from Lewis Wines, contacted us about some extra Blanc du Bois grapes from east Texas that he would have available. Blanc du Bois, an American hybrid, is an interesting varietal that is often overlooked in the wine world. My interest in this varietal began during my time working in the experimental vineyards at U.C. Davis. The varietal was released by the University of Florida in the 1970s and is a cross between Cardinal, an American species, and Florida D6-148, a cross between several Vitis Vinifera species including Golden Muscat. The varietal was bred to be resistant to Pierce’s Disease, a bacterial disease that often affects grapevines in the south/southeast region of the United States.’

Find out additional information on the Jester King website.

When: December 19th, 4pm.

Availability: For sale by the glass or in 500 ml bottles. Bottles will be $16 and only available at the brewery. Additionally, only 800 bottles are for sale, so the limit is one per customer.

Photos via Jester King Blog.