Jokers in the pack

UnderDog ran a series of Jester King beers through the taps on successive Thursdays in October. Well it doesn't seem like that long ago. Shut up.

Week one was Cerveza de Mezquite, described by the brewery as a farmhouse ale with mesquite beans. Mesquite comes in beans now? It's 5.6% ABV and an opaque orange colour. A sour tang in the aroma sets the tone at the outset. That continues all through the flavour, joined by an oaky white-pepper spice which contrasts with gummy Brettanomyces peach notes. All is as-expected so far, but then in comes a summer fruit vibe -- raspberry and strawberry -- lightening and brightening the whole picture. This is very nearly lambic-like in its complexity, increasingly so as it warms. There's even the hard wax bitterness in the finish, eventually. I can't say I recognise those mesquite beans, but really it needs no novelty embellishment.

Part & Parcel is also billed as a saison but again goes big on the sour. A dark red-brown, it gives a vinegary tingle to the nose hairs. In the flavour there's a crunch of dark grain then sour cherry leading to a strong balsamic vinegar twang which forms the bulk of the taste. The carbonation level is so high I would swear this came from an over-primed gushy bottle rather than a Keykeg. Easy drinking this is not. And I'm not sure it's worth the effort: it has too much in common with wonky Flanders red, the vinegar simply refusing to quit. 33cl was as much as I could handle, even at the modest 5.5% ABV.

The last one to come my way was Simple Means, described as a smoked Altbier, which sounds like a reasonable experiment for an American brewery to try. So then why did mine smell like another Flanders red? It's also black. No marks for meeting expectations so far then. It does at least taste smoky: a peaty phenolic bang which is quite tasty. But I was expecting a lager, and the vinegary twang makes it taste like bad lager. Putting thoughts of Düsseldorf out of my head, this is a fairly average sour dark ale with extra smoke. The flavour isn't cloying or difficult but it doesn't go anywhere interesting and definitely doesn't deserve to be called an Alt. I probably would have been prepared to give it more of a pass if they'd described it differently.

I went into this sequence believing Jester King could do no wrong. I guess every brewery's reputation falls apart eventually if you drink enough of their beer. There's a gloomy thought to begin 2020.