Wild beer

These Jester King alumni searched for the perfect place to make the beer they envisioned, with wild yeast and ingredients sourced from within a few miles. Now, they guide their fermentations to produce beers that balance flavor and character.

Sour and wild beers exist on a complex plane of myriad flavors and aromas produced by bacteria, yeast, ingredients, and by-products. Randy Mosher breaks down the building blocks of what we sense, to help us identify what we enjoy.

Informed by the Belgian tradition but rooted in their own places, here are five beers brewed and blended in the manner of lambic and gueuze.

Inspired by traditional lambic brewing, here is homebrewer Kevin Foster’s recipe for his turbid-mashed base beer. Evolving variations on this recipe are key components of his award-winning annual blends.