Dripping Springs, Texas

February 2016discover Published by the Hill Country Sun

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Jester King Brewery expands acreage, ambitions

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Jester King Brewery, renowned brewer of wild ales and spontaneously fermented beers, has just purchased 58 acres surrounding its brewery and tasting room on Fitzhugh Road. Photo courtesy Jester King Brewery.

By LaureL robertson

When a brewery relies as much on its natural environment to brew beer as Jester King does, ac-

quiring new land is more than an invest-ment — it’s an opening for possibilities.

The renowned brewer of wild ales and spontaneously fermented beers has just purchased 58 acres surrounding its brewery and tasting room on Fitzhugh Road. New possibilities for the brewery are now rising as rapidly as foam on a fresh draught.

Jester King’s founder Jeffrey Stuffings has a batch of ambitions for the future: creating a working farm to supply raw ingredients for Jester King’s line of beers; making other fermented foods with homegrown ingredients — cured meats, cheeses, breads, wines, cider, mead and distilled spirits; opening a farm-to-table restaurant; building a wedding and event

venue; and (most of all) - preserving the rural, rustic character of the brewery and its ability to produce authentic farm-house ales.

Originally from Belgium, farmhouse ales, or “saisons” were brewed in the winter months and served to farm work-ers (“saisonniers”) during the summer months.

“Farmhouse brewing means using our natural surroundings to create beer that’s inextricably linked to a particular time and place,” Jeffrey explains. By us-ing native yeasts captured from the local environment, “we never make the same beer twice,” he says. “We control the tem-perature — and otherwise, let nature take its course.”

Following the traditional Belgian lambic brewing method, Jester King uses a “coolship” method (koelschip in Flem-See JESTER KING BREWERY, page 2

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JESTER KING BREWERY, from page 1

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ish) to innoculate many of their beers with local wild yeasts. On cold winter nights, the hot wort (the first stage of beer) is sprayed into a 900-gallon shallow copper vat to cool quickly and collect the native yeasts floating on the open night air. The next morning, the cooled wort is drained into fermentation vessels and left to condition for months.

Things can easily go bad with this spontaneous fermentation method, ad-mits Jeffrey. “Ten to 20 percent of what we brew with the coolship goes down the drain,” he says, but those batches that turn out well develop into uniquely local brews.

Like wines, Jester King’s beers are labeled by year of production - because their taste and character varies year to year. “Our production flies in the face

of constancy and predictability,” he says with pride.

In addition to using native yeasts, Jester King strives to make beer true to its terroir (soil and climate) by using local grains malted in Texas, its own well wa-ter, and herbs and wild plants harvested from the land. Several of the label’s beers are infused with local and regional fruits, vegetables and other flavorings - includ-ing peaches, figs, grapes, beets, butternut squash, sage, juniper berries, lavender, lemon, bee balm, mushrooms - even hay! With 58 different brews in periodic pro-duction, variety is rampant.

Seventy percent of Jester King’s pro-duction of beer is sold onsite at their Tast-ing Room on Fridays, Saturdays and Sun-days. A dozen or so of their own brews, See JESTER KING, page 3

LEFT Jester King founder Jeffrey Stuffings. Jester King strives to make beer true to its terroir (soil and climate) by using local grains malted in Texas, its own well water, and herbs and wild plants harvested from the land. Photos courtesy Jester King Brewery.

Following the traditional Belgian lambic brewing method, Jester King uses a “coolship” method (koelschip in Flemish) to innoculate many of their beers with local wild yeasts. Photo courtesy Jester King Brewery.

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along with a large selection of local, re-gional, national and international beers, wines, and ciders are stocked at multiple locations around the brewery compound. Food is available from Stanley’s Farm-house Pizza ( an easy stroll across the land) and free tours of the brewery are given several times a day.

The rest of Jester King’s production is available at local restaurants, taverns and shops on a limited basis. Very little prod-uct is shipped out of state.

As the folks at Jester King Brewery are fond of saying: “We brew what we like, drink what we want, and offer the rest to those who share our tastes.”

FYI • Jester King Brewery is located at 13005 Fitzhugh Road, east of Dripping Springs. Tasting Room hours are Fridays from 4 pm to 10 pm; Saturdays from noon to 10 pm; and Sundays from noon to 7 pm. Tours are offered at 6 pm Fridays and Saturdays and Sundays at 1 pm, 3 pm and 5 pm. For more information, visit the web site at jesterking-brewery.com or call 512-537-5100.

JESTER KING BREWERY, from page 2

The popular tasting room at Jester King Brewery is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Photo courtesy Jester King Brewery.

Seventy percent of Jester King’s production is sold onsite at the Tasting Room. Photo courtesy Jester King Brewery.

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By LaureL robertson

Let the wild rumpus start! At their 26th annual Wild Game Din-ner, the Dripping Springs United

Methodist Men will once again be cook-ing up wild things to help the commu-nity they love and support in so many ways.

Dig into all-you-can-eat pheasant, deer, quail, dove, wild pork, rabbits, turkey and more native and exotic deli-cacies on Saturday, February 20 at Drip-ping Springs’ largest fundraiser.

Proceeds from the dinner and auc-tions benefit a herd of local charities, in-cluding Hill Country Rally for Kids, DS Helping Hands, RED Arena, Dripping Springs Young Life, and more.

Last year’s dinner in the DS High School cafeteria fed over 700 guests and volunteers and raised $73,000 to distrib-ute to charities and missions throughout Hays County.

The Grand Prize in this year’s Raffle is the most expensive to date: a Tomcar TM2 two-seater, off road, go-anywhere machine, says co-organizer Paul Brown. The $23,000 machine is designed for mil-itary, fire, search and rescue, and is great for long distance travel over very rough terrain.

As always, the live and silent auc-tions will be filled with vacation trips, dinners, wine tours, artwork, catered

dinners, jewelry, firearms - some years even a prize puppy comes up for bid!

This year’s Paddles Up recipient will be the Dripping Springs City-Wide Youth Event.

Each year, a participating charity is invited to give a short presentation de-scribing what they’ll do with the donat-ed funds.

Then the auctioneer calls to the crowd to raise their auction paddles to pledge donations at different levels di-rectly to that cause. 100 percent of the pledged money goes to that charity.

Last year’s Paddles Up recipient was RED Arena, who used the addi-tional donations to fund scholarships for their equine therapy programs.

This year will see a return of Kid

Zone, a structured and supervised event in the high school’s gym where kids four years of age through fifth grade can be entertained during the evening’s

auctions. Planned activities include a bounce house, games, movies and other age-appropriate fun.

You’ll find a wide variety of delicious exotic eats at the DSUMC Wild Game DInner February 20 at Dripping Springs High School cafeteria. BELOW Dripping Springs United Methodist Women provide plenty of desserts. Photo courtesy Dripping Springs United Methodist Men.

The men of Dripping Springs United Methodist Church get cooking at the annual Wild Game Dinner. This year’s event is February 20. Photos courtesy Dripping Springs United Methodist Men.

See WILD GAME DINNER, page 5

Don’t miss! Wild Game Dinner February 20

Something for every taste at the DSUMC Wild Game Dinner. Photo courtesy Dripping Springs United Methodist Men.

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WILD GAME DINNER, from page 4

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As in past years, local hunters and exotic game ranches will provide the wild game, to be cooked by the Method-ist Men. Kitchen staff at the high school make side dishes and help serve.

The DS United Methodist Women provide tables full of desserts.

The entire event is a labor of love for the 100-plus volunteers from all around the community who’ve polished the massive fundraiser into what Paul de-scribes as “a well-oiled machine.”

The large quantities of wild game are processed and frozen the preced-ing fall and winter. The two days be-

fore the annual dinner are a blitzkrieg of prepping and cooking, with all-hands-on-deck on Friday for “Call in Sick to Work Day,” when the volun-teers get the 400-600 pounds of meats cut, ground, marinated and ready for cooking.

All day Saturday, a flotilla of bar-beque pits fills the church parking lot as an army of skilled cooks turn the prepped pheasant, quail, dove, deer, wild turkey, rabbit, wild pig (and oc-casional elk, antelope, or moose) into roasts, cutlets, grilled ribs, chili, en-chiladas, lasagna, chili, carne guisada,

gumbo, rabbit stew (with dumplings!) and more. “We also serve regular beef brisket - as a ‘security choice,’” Paul adds.

More volunteers are welcome - and encouraged to help on Friday or Satur-day. “Call ahead - or just show up and we’ll put you to work,” suggests Paul.

FYI • The 26th Annual Wild Game Dinner is Satur-day, February 20 beginning at 6 pm at Dripping Springs High School Cafeteria. Tickets and more information are available online at dswildgamedinner.com, at the door the night of the dinner, or by calling 512-894-7123. Do-nations for live and silent auction items are sought and appreciated.

The Hall Family volunteering at the DSUMC Wild Game Dinner. LEFT TO RIGHT Aaron, Matt, and Austin. Photo courtesy Dripping Springs United Methodist Men.

The Grand Prize in this year’s raffle: a Tomcar TM2 two-seater, off road, go-anywhere machine worth $23,000.Photo courtesy Dripping Springs United Methodist Men.

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EVERY SUNDAY• Live Jazz Brunch Buffet at the Nutty Brown Cafe. www.nuttybrown.com.EVERY MONDAY• Rotary Club Meets. 11:45 am at Flores Restaurant, 2440 East Highway 290. 11:45 am. www.drippingspringsrotary.org.• Boy Scout Troop 280 meets at St. Martin de Porres Church Hall. 512-904-0444, drippingsprings280.mytroop.us. • Karaoke Night at Hudson’s on Mercer. 7:30 pm. www.hudsonsonmercer.com.FIRST and THIRD MONDAYS• Dripping Springs Lions Club meets. 6:30 pm at Dripping Springs Ranch Park. Sharon at 512-923-8360.SECOND MONDAYS• Group of Dripping Springs (GODS) Moms meets. Dripping Springs Methodist Church 9 am to 11:15 am. 512-894-0581.FOURTH MONDAYS• Artists of Dripping Springs. Gatherings at area studios. 512-894-0394.• Gen. Ben McCulloch 2435, UDC meets at the Veterans Hall, 27500 Ranch Road 12 at 7 pm. Sharon Hudson at 512-858-7177.EVERY TUESDAY• Dripping Springs Toastmasters. 6:30 pm at Pioneer Bank, 100 Creek Road. Visitors welcome. www.dstoastmasters.com.• Dripping Springs Property Tour. 512-579-7711, dshometour@gmail.com.• Hill Country Community Band Rehearses at Chapel in the Hills, Wimberley. 7 pm to 8:30 pm. 512-517-3111.• Open “Mike” Night with your host Mike Waits at Hudson’s on Mercer. Sign ups at 6:30 pm, show starts by 7:30 pm. Each artists can perform up to three songs (time permitting.) www.hudsonsonmercer.com.SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH TUESDAYS• Dripping Springs Boy Scout Troop 101 meets. Dripping Springs United Methodist Church. 7 pm. Tom Chenault, 512-707-7488.SECOND TUESDAYS• Friends of the Dripping Springs Community Library. 11 am. 512-771-3217 or friendsofdslibrary@gmail.com for information and volunteer opportunities.EVERY WEDNESDAY• Dripping Springs Farmers Market. The Triangle (Highway 290/ Ranch Road 12) 3 pm to 7 pm. cityofdrippingsprings.com.• Open Mic at Mercer Street Dance Hall hosted by Nick Gatewood. www.mercerstreetdancehall.com.• Awana. Wednesday. Henly Baptist Church. henlybaptistchurch.org.SECOND WEDNESDAY• Free Alzheimer’s Support Group meets at Arveda Alzheimer’s Family Care. RSVP to 512-637-5400. www.arvedacare.com.EVERY THURSDAY• Hill Country Jam at Mercer Street Dance Hall with Doug Moreland. Free admission. 7:30 pm. www.mercerstreetdancehall.com.• Thyme and Dough Bistro Nights with live music, dinners and decadent desserts. 6 pm to 9 pm. 512-894-0001.• Henly Baptist Church JOY (Just

Older Youth) Club. 9:30 am. www.henlybaptistchurch.org. FIRST THURSDAYS• Dripping Springs American Legion 7 pm. 512-858-5637.• Nonfiction Addiction Book Club meets at the Dripping Springs Community Library from 6 pm to 7:30 pm. New members welcome. dscl.org, 512-858-7825.• First Thursday. Participating businesses offer special events such as artisans, food and music plus sale items. 5 pm to 9 pm. www.drippingspringstx.org.FIRST AND THIRD THURSDAY• Lions Club meets at 131 East Mercer Street. 512-858-5159.SECOND THURSDAYS• Knights of Columbus, Council 11695, meets at the St Martin de Porres Parrish Hall on Post Oak Road, at 7:30 pm. Preceded by a pot luck dinner.THIRD THURSDAYS• Dripping Springs Cookoff Club. 6:30 pm in the VFW Hall in Dripping Springs. ryoncrew@yahoo.com.• Dripping Springs VFW meets. 27500 Ranch Road 12. 7 pm. 512-858-5637.• Thirsty Thursday. Poets, musicians, songwriters, storytellers share work. Sponsored by City of Dripping Springs and New Life Lutheran Church. 7 pm, Dripping Springs Ranch Park. 512-858-2024.FOURTH THURSDAY• Photographers of Dripping Springs (PODS). Dripping Springs Community Library. 6:30 pm. 512-524-7897. EVERY FRIDAY• Men’s Breakfast at Fitzhugh Baptist Church. 6:30 am. 512-913-4808.• Free wine tasting and art gallery. 5 pm to 8 pm. www.cedarvalleyspirits.com.EVERY FRIDAY & SATURDAY• Dance Lessons at Mercer Street Dance Hall. 7:30 pm. mercerstreetdancehall.com.SECOND & FOURTH SATURDAY• Pet Adoption Sponsored by Thundering Paws Animal Sanctuary. Tractor Supply. 512-402-9725.FEBRUARY 3• Dripping Springs Chamber of Commerce Coffee Connector. Morning Business Networking at its best! Please bring plenty of business cards to share. Free coffee and breakfast tacos, cinnamon rolls, muffins, etc. for purchase. 8:15 am at Mazama Coffee Company, 301 Mercer Street.• National Weather Service Free Severe Weather Spotting Training. 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at City Hall. No registration required. FEBRUARY 5• Clay McClinton and the South Austin Moonlighters at Mercer Street Dancehall. www.mercerstreetdancehall.com.• Suits & Boots Community Awards Celebration. Celebrate the best of Dripping Springs at 6 pm at Dripping Springs Ranch Park. Networking Hour music by Hill Country Ramblers. Cash bar, appetizers and dinner, followed by award ceremony

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and after-party at Mercer Street Dance Hall (included in ticket price). More information at www.drippingspringstx.org.FEBRUARY 5-7• Mardi Gras At Solaro Estate Winery. www.solaroestate.com.FEBRUARY 6• Michael Myers at Mercer Street Dancehall. www.mercerstreetdancehall.com.FEBRUARY 7• Wedding Capital of Texas Bridal Showcase. 1 pm to 5 pm at Dripping Springs Ranch Park. Vendors including venues, lodging, floral, cakes, planners, transportation, catering, photographers, videographers, rentals and more. Register at www.weddingcapitaloftexas.org.FEBRUARY 11• Chamber Networking Happy Hour. A free event for members of Dripping Springs Chamber. Food/drink for purchase. 5:30 pm to 7 pm at The Sated Sheep, 100 Commons Road, Suite 5. www.drippingspringtx.org.FEBRUARY 12• People’s Choice Band. Enjoy live music at Mercer Street Dancehall. www.mercerstreetdancehall.com.FEBRUARY 13• Jimmie Vaughan. Enjoy live music at Mercer Street Dancehall . www.mercerstreetdancehall.com.FEBRUARY 14• Asleep at the Wheel. Enjoy live country music at Mercer Street Dancehall. www.mercerstreetdancehall.com.FEBRUARY 19• Tejas Brothers. Enjoy live music at M e rc e r S t re e t D a n c e h a l l . w w w.mercerstreetdancehall.com.FEBRUARY 20• DSUMC Wild Game Dinner. (See story, page 4.) Enjoy an all-you-can-eat feast of wild game, including fried venison cutlets, elk enchiladas, rabbit and dumplings, pheasant gumbo, and a nearly endless variety of sides and desserts. 6 pm at Dripping Springs High School Cafeteria. dswildgamedinner.com.

• Dale Watson. Mercer Street Dancehall. www.mercerstreetdancehall.com.FEBRUARY 26• The Mystiqueros with Tracy Lynn. Enjoy live music at Mercer Street Dancehall. www.mercerstreetdancehall.com.MARCH 5• Texas Night Sky Festival. Activities for all ages at Dripping Springs Ranch Park. 3 pm to 10 pm. www.TexasNightSkyFestival.org.

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