Today at Noon we're releasing Moderne Dansk Batch 2! Moderne Dansk is our barrel aged wild ale refermented with Danish Stevnsbær cherry juice from the renowned Frederiksdal Kirsebærvin in Denmark!
We first experienced Frederiksdal wine at the Mikkeller Copenhagen Beer Celebration several years ago, and became instantly infatuated. The character of the cherries from the Frederiksdal estate (about 100 miles from Copenhagen) was unlike anything we had experienced, and speaks to Frederiksdal's unique sense of place. Much like a chef presented with a really fantastic ingredient, we felt our job at Jester King was to stand out of the way and let the character of the Stevnsbær cherry juice express itself. To this end, we simply took some mature, barrel aged beer from our cellar, added the cherry juice, let it referment to dryness, then bottle conditioned the result. Our influence on the finished beer is quite minimal, preferring for the terroir of the cherry juice to shine.
Moderne Dansk Batch 2 was blended in March and bottled in May. Unlike for Batch 1, the base beer came from neutral oak barrels in our cellar, rather than barrels previously containing Frederiksdal wine. Batch 2 is 7.1% ABV and was packaged in kegs and 375ml bottles. We have about 3,000 bottles available for purchase ($20) with a bottle limit of six. Please note that about 1,000 of the bottles were finished with just a cap instead of a cap and cork due to our bottle corker breaking during the bottle run. The lack of a cork should have no negative impact on quality.
Batch 2 is available for curbside pickup starting today (06/23/20) at Noon. To place an order, please follow this link. Moderne Dansk Batch 2 will also be available by the glass at Jester King for our onsite guests, as well as in bottles to go while supplies last. To make a reservation to come see us, please follow this link.
Thank you very much to Harald Krabbe and Anne-Marie Skriver of Frederiksdal for the years of friendship and for sending us such fabulous cherry juice from their winery. We're honored to try to do it justice!
Artwork by Joshua Cockrell
Photography by Granger Coats