Introducing Jester King Equipoise – Our Collaboration with Chef Paul Qui

We’re very excited to introduce Equipoise, a farmhouse ale brewed with ginger salt and tarragon, and refermented with cantaloupe, made in collaboration with Chef Paul Qui. We’ve been great fans of Chef Qui’s cuisine for several years now, having first enjoyed his work at Uchiko and East Side King, and later at his eponymous Austin restaurant Qui. We’re also great fans of food and beer pairings. The right pairing can enhance both the complexity of a beer’s flavor profile and that of the dish with which it’s served. In working with Chef Qui, we sought to create a beer that would complement, and hopefully enhance, his culinary perspective.

The principles behind our collaboration, as the name suggests, are balance and equilibrium. We’ve long been immensely impressed with the subtlety, restraint, balance, and delicateness of Chef Qui’s cuisine. The thoughtfulness with which he creates layers of flavors has led to some of the most complex dishes we’ve ever tasted. Based on Chef Qui’s principles and philosophy, we similarly wanted to create a subtle, balanced beer that wouldn’t overwhelm the palate. We felt comfortable working within this context, as these principles are important to us for all our beers. We also had the goal of creating a low-alcohol table beer that could be shared amongst friends and enjoyed over the course of the entire meal. Thus, we decided to bottle Equipoise in 1.5 liter-magnums. Having had the opportunity to work with Chef Qui was a great honor for which we’re most grateful.

Equipoise was brewed in September of 2014 with Hill Country well water, malted barley, oats, hops, ginger salt, and dried tarragon. It was then fermented in stainless steel with our unique mixed culture of microorganisms consisting of brewers yeast and native yeast and bacteria harvested from the air and wildflowers around our brewery in the Texas Hill Country. Puréed cantaloupe was added to the beer three days into fermentation. Finally, it was 100% naturally conditioned in bottles and kegs. Equipoise is 4.2% alcohol by volume, has a finishing gravity of 1.000 (0 degrees Plato), and was 4.32 pH and 26 IBUs at the time of bottling in October of 2014.

Equipoise will be released on Friday, April 3rd at Jester King Brewery when our tasting room opens at 4pm. It will be available by the glass, as well as to go in 1.5 liter bottles ($24, limit 1 per customer per day). Approximately 1,350 bottles will be available. A beer dinner featuring Equipoise will take place at Qui later this spring — details to follow.

The label art for Equipoise was done in-house by our own Josh Cockrell, who used the decor and cuisine at Qui as inspiration for the label art.

Cantaloupes from Johnson’s Backyard Garden