Jester King Cerveza de Mezquite Batch 2

This Friday, February 16th, we will be releasing our second batch of Cerveza de Mezquite.

The base beer was brewed on November 28th and 29th, 2017 with malted barley from Blacklands Malt, malted wheat, rolled oats, and Millennium hops. Cerveza de Mezquite was fermented in stainless steel with our mixed culture of brewers yeast, native yeast, and native bacteria. It was packaged on January 23rd and 24th, 2018 and 100% naturally conditioned through refermentation in bottles and kegs. At the time of packaging, Cerveza de Mezquite was 5.3% alcohol by volume, 27 IBU, 3.92 pH, and 1.005 specific gravity (1.3 degrees Plato).

The mesquite beans for this beer were harvested in Rankin, Texas by Jason Brazil on his family ranch. They were roasted and milled by Sandeep Gyawali of Miche Bread and Texas Mesquite Bean Movement.

This is what Sandeep has to say about mesquite beans:

Mesquite beans are native to Texas and were the primary food source for the indigenous peoples of the American Southwest. Due to the mesquite tree’s importance in nutrition, spirituality, medicine, textile, and even forecasting weather, it was considered “the tree of life” by many cultures. Land with an abundance of mesquite was fought for and protected. The story these days is very different, and many see this tree as a scourge to be tamed, though mesquite is winning that battle as the overwhelmingly dominant tree of Texas. But if we can’t beat it, let’s eat it. It’s the native flavor of this land. Let’s work together to reclaim it as part of our local identity.

And Jester King brewer Sean Spiller notes on brewing our second batch of Cerveza de Mezquite:

For this batch of Cerveza de Mezquite, we opted to add the mesquite bean flour during the mash as opposed to the whirlpool addition utilized in batch one. We wanted to minimize astringency from the combination of higher temperatures and the tannic mesquite shell. The roasted mesquite flour has a huge aroma of brown sugar and allspice, and is also quite sweet, contributing a lot of fermentable sugar. For the grist we used mostly Blacklands Malt, including a new one called Amber Waves that pairs quite nicely with the mesquite. This beer showcases some of the versatility of the mesquite pod, and we’re happy to be working with Sandeep to bring about the awareness of this unique ingredient.

Sandeep will be on-site in the tasting room on Friday, February 16th, 5pm – 7pm for the release.

We will release Cerveza de Mezquite in our tasting room at 4pm on Friday, February 16th. It will be available by the glass and in bottles to go (750ml/$14). Approximately 6,900 bottles are available. We expect Cerveza de Mezquite to see distribution in Texas.