289. Jester King Craft Brewing – Commercial Suicide Draft

Posted By kkozlen on Mar 10, 2011 | 0 comments

After having the Live Oak Brewing Liberation Ale at The Gingerman in Austin, TX, I wanted to try another local beer.  Before coming to SXSW, I had done some research and found out about Jester King Craft Brewing.  It’s a new brewery near Austin, and it looks like they’re making some interesting beers.  This one appeared to be no exception.  Their site says, “A true “session beer”, Commercial Suicide is an authentic English dark mild with notes of caramel, coffee and chocolate. A portion of each batch is aged in medium toast American oak barrels, lending very subtle toasted, oaky notes to the finished beer.”

Numbers: 3.5% ABV, 18 IBUs, 1.041 OG, 1.014 FG, Malts: Maris Otter, Caramalt, Brown, Wheat, Dark Crystal, Chocolate, Oats, Hops: East Kent Goldings, Yeast: Dry English Ale

Appearance & Aroma: As you can see, it was pretty cloudy and deep brown in color.  There was a very thin creamy head, which provided a thin ring around the top of the beer.  There was a roasted caramel malt aroma, with a hint of cocoa (more like cocoa powder, not chocolate per se).  Despite the description, I couldn’t really pick up on much of an oaky aroma.

Taste & Feel: Although there wasn’t much, head, there was a bit of carbonation feel up front, with a light-medium body.  There was a roasty caramel flavor up front, giving way to a richer dark caramel, cocoa, and a hint of coffee-like hop bitterness.  There was an almost chewy, caramel-cocoa flavor in my mouth in the aftertaste.

Food Pairing: This was a very flavorful beer, bringing out dark, roasty, caramel and cocoa-like flavors.  Since we’re in Texas, it would probably be perfect with some BBQ.  My thought was that it would be great with some BBQ ribs, matching the brown sugar and caramel-like sweetness in the sauce.

Overall Impression: I was really surprised with how flavorful this beer was for being an English Mild, and even more surprised with how low the alcohol content was in such a rich beer.  The flavors were complex, but almost became a bit muddied in the aftertaste.  It was a decent beer, but I’m not sure that it’s one that I think I would drink on a regular basis.

My Rating:

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