UPDATED: JAN 8, 2021 Very smooth, low carbonation, velvety. Not belgiany at all. More of a biere de garde. Super smooth neutral. Winstons

UPDATED: NOV 2, 2019 Pours hazy dark apricot with a nice eggshell head. Aroma yields tart pomme, raw malt, a hint of hops. Flavor features fresh malt, tart pomme, and piney hops. Texture presents fair body and peppy fizz. If not noble, still noteworthy.

750ml bottle pours out hazy golden topped with a small head. Nose is nice citrus spice belg yeast notes and some barnyard notes. Taste is more of the nice citrus hops floral notes spice belg yeast.

750ml bottle. Poured a golden color with a medium sized head. Some yeast, citrus, a lighter funkiness, and spice.

Farmhouse ale by Jester King, one of their original beers, launched in 2011 with a clean English yeast strain, but changed in 2013 when they began to use their proprietary new yeast cocktail which, apart from Saccharomyces, also involves wild yeasts and even bacteria, intended to start venturing into sour beer world - with great success, as has been demonstrated meanwhile. Vintage bottle of a few years old, still with the old fermentation method, this is apparently the second ’extinct’ beer I’m rating today. Quite thick, densely moussy, off-white, tightly cobweb-like lacing, stable head over a hazy, warm orange blonde beer with minuscule dots of yeast everywhere - suggesting an older bottle. Adding the deposit results in a more ochre-brownish, very muddy, milky appearance. Very pleasant aroma of biscuit and cake, dried mango, candied orange, sweet acacia honey, lychee, buttermilk, dry earth, peach, white bread crust, candied ginger, pink pepper, lime zest and even some limoncello, sweet white wine, dried weeds, hay and, with the deposit added, supplementary hints of sweet pickled gherkins and very weak varnish. Apart from a vague cardboard-like hint, there are no obvious signs of oxidation. Crisp, lively fruity yet fairly clean onset, sweetish hints of dried banana, apricot and mango with a certain citrus freshness as well as a deeper, soft gooseberry sourishness, all well in balance and softly but sufficiently carbonated; very bready, lightly caramelly malt sweetness in the middle, acquiring a light toastedly bitterish edge but mostly sticking to breadiness, while the clean and restrained fruitiness continues on top of it and some spicy ’stings’ appear, a combination of a light phenolic presence with approaching hops, which grow stronger in the finish, effectuating a drying, earthy, peppery bitterness with retronasal floral and soft dried citrus peel-like aromas; juicy maltiness gets the last word along with bready yeastiness especially after adding the deposit, but this peppery hoppiness goes down into the throat along with it. I guess I was lucky to stumble upon a vintage bottle from before 2013; this is a quenching, refreshing, ’friendly’ and utterly well-balanced saison pur sang, perhaps a tad sweeter and more citrusy than what Belgian breweries would do with this style, but by all means a very credibly ’Belgian’ style ale. Makes me curious what has happened to it now that wild yeasts are involved!

Où, Quand, Comment : Bouteille 750ml, dégustée le 12/7/2013.
Visuel : Couleur : dorée-orangée. Apparence : voilée.
Arôme : Levures fruitées et épicées, notes rustiques, léger de pain, léger de houblon floral et herbeux, léger de céréales.
Goût : En entrée de bouche : Goût de levures fruitées (agrumes, notes de poires et de mangues), moyennement épicées et aux notes rustiques. Un support de céréales légèrement sucrées est également présent une légère amertume de houblon floral, herbeux et aux faibles notes terreuses ainsi que de notes de pain.
En bouche : Corps : moyen. Effervescence : moyen. Texture : légèrement crémeux. Finale : moyenne et moyennement sèche, composée d’une moyenne amertume de houblon floral et herbeux avec des notes de levures.

Poured into a tulip. 3.5 A: Well hazed orange brown color. Big, many fingered frothy, off-white head. Retention is about average and a decent amount of lacing is left. 3.75 S: Man, JK just loves packing their beers full of herbalness. Floral too. Wildflower, jasmine, a million different flowers that I can’t name. Some dry woodiness too. Really stellar is you are big into the herb and flower thing. Still good if you aren’t. 3.75 T: Again lots of herb and flower going on. Mild bitterness. Herb and flower are pretty much the only thing going on, but this is quite complex. The flavors layer on each other. I just wish I was better at picking out these specific flavors. Quite good. 3.75 M: Lighter medium body. Good moderate carbonation. Reasonably creamy and super smooth. 3.75 D: Really nice saison. No complaints. ★ 824 characters DavoleBomb, Aug 13, 2013

750ml bottle. Light hazy golden color with white head. Yeasty and hoppy aroma, floral, citrusy, spicy. Sweet and bitter taste like aroma. Medium oily body with average carbonation

Batch 9 bottled 1.4.13. Foamed out on opening, poured into Tulip at around 8degC. Crystal clear gold with a massive foamy/sudsy head that settled to a 10mm thick white crust.Lots of rising tiny carbonation bubbles, so that head it kept charged.Hops are almost gone due to age and leaving a funky, yeasty, earthy barnyard caramel and a smudge of cardboard there too. Like to try a fresh one of these.

UPDATED: MAR 29, 2015 750mL bottle, from 2013, drunk 3/28/15
Well, I kept this cellared very cold and out of the light, and it pours in wonderful condition, clear, amber-gold with a bountiful white head, well-retained.
Unfortunately, from the get go, it smells VERY oxidized. Cardboard and dry caramel, with very little hop notes. Granted, at 2 years old, I dont expect it to smell or taste hoppy, but this thing is drinking like a 10 year old or more beer. Sugary, syrupy sweetness is barely broken up by the carbonation. You have to wonder about some hot side aeration as this just shouldnt be so papery/cardboardy. Pretty disappointing, especially given the cold cellaring. I do like how well carbonated it is and the creamy body, but just cant get past the dull, bland, sucralose-like oxidative notes. Certainly will try more and hopefully this is just an anomaly. That being said, better start drinking my JK beers....kinda worried.