(Austin, TX) – This Friday, October 20th, we are releasing 2017 Jester King Bière de Blanc du Bois — our barrel-aged farmhouse ale refermented with Texas Hill Country Blanc du Bois grapes!
Blanc du Bois grapes are pretty special to us. For starters, they taste wonderful and produce beautiful flavors when fermented. Beyond that, they’re grown in the Hill Country and played an important role in Texas wine. Blanc du Bois was bred to be be resistant to Pierce’s Disease, a bacterial disease that often affects grapevines in the south/southeast region of the United States.
For 2017 Bière de Blanc du Bois, we refermented 1,100 pounds of Blanc du Bois grapes from Torre di Pietra Vineyards in Fredericksburg, Texas with about twelve oak barrels (~2,700 liters) of Jester King Das Überkind. The base beer was blended from barrel stock ranging from about eight to fourteen months old. After refermentation, the blend was packaged on September 9th, 2017 and naturally conditioned through refermentation in the serving vessel. At the time of packaging, the blend was 6.9 percent alcohol by volume, 10 IBU, 3.5 pH, and 0.999 specific gravity (-0.25 Plato). This is our fourth blend of Bière de Blanc du Bois.
2017 Bière de Blanc du Bois will be released when our tasting room opens at 4pm on Friday, October 20th. It will be available by the glass in and bottles to go (500ml/$20). We have about 2,300 bottles available with a bottle limit of three bottles per person per day. Aside from special events, 2017 Bière de Blanc du Bois will only be available at our tasting room.