Jack D'Or
"Jack D'Or" is a simple table beer, or "Saison Americain" as we're referring to it. We are not trying to coin a beer style – we’re just having fun. At PRETTY THINGS we don't brew styles per se. Instead, we re-imagine everything and leave the style numbers in books on the shelves where they belong. What that means is that while other people might be able to put our beers into a category, we have a hard time with it! Our beers are first and foremost creative beasts, not "types" of beer. Jack D'Or is the kind of beer Martha and I like to drink before, after and during a great meal. Heck, we'll drink this sort of beer any time.
Inspired by some of our favorites saisons like Saison DuPont, but also DeRanke's XX Bitter, De Dolle's Arabier, and local table IPAs like Smuttynose, our Jack D'Or starts off with North American Pils, Vienna, Wheat and Malted Oats (among others) and is hopped with a combination of four hops, finishing with Palisade and Nugget. Fermentation-wise we use a blend of three yeast strains to give Jack D'Or its refreshingly dry character. Finally, despite all of the spicy flavours in this beer it contains no actual spices - only malt, oats, sugar, hops and yeast. One more time: there are no spices whatsoever in Jack D'Or!
We reserve the right to make this beer better on a batch-to-batch basis, but we promise to keep you up to date with any changes that we make. That said, revealing too much of what we're doing takes away some of the fun, so we're not going turn this beer into a set of numbers and raw materials on here either.
What They're Saying About JACK D'OR
"Unique is an understatement. Jack D'Or is a complex, balanced, drinkable, and yes... interesting-as-all-hell-beer... Overall it's a must try that gets a solid 'A' in our books." Jason + Todd Alstrom, BEERADVOCATE.COM
among "50 Beers to Try Before You Die" GQ MAGAZINE, APRIL, 2010
"I must say: what a friggin' gorgeous beer, Dann!! (Feel free to use that quote as an accolade on your website). From start to finish, just loved it... Now I have to get back there to buy a case!!" Dan Kochakian, ALE STREET NEWS
"Jack D'Or. One fantastic beer...One of the easier drinking beers you'll ever have." Norman Miller rating Jack D'Or #4 on the Top 10 New England beers of 2008. BEERNUT
BATCH TWO: March 2009 Here we go with our second batch! We've changed the process a little with this batch, but we've only tweaked the recipe a tiny bit. There's a new yeast strain that's giving more of a saison character, and you might notice some more hops in this beer. There's also some wheat (we cut back a little on the oats). We've noticed that the yeast is very much in solution, giving a more cloudy appearance this time. All in all, right now this is a great, fresh, happy Jack!
Original Gravity 16.2 PLATO, 45 IBU
BATCH ONE: This is it! -Our first commercial batch. We did a test brew (at our secret R+D location) to test the concept, and then made a few tweaks here and there for this one. This one is bigger in body than the test batch and slightly more phenolic. Dry hopped with Cascade and Nugget. We’re happy with it and hope you are too. We've noticed after our test batch and now our first brewery batch, the oats give the beer a soft character, big marshmallow head and a slight lingering peachy sweetness.
Original Gravity 15.5 PLATO, 6.45% ABV, 45 IBU
The Label
The creature on the label is Jack D'Or himself, conceived and drawn by Dann. Far away in a small clearing in the woods of New England, ankle deep in the mash tun, he contemplates and perhaps even conjures a batch of beer. For those of you who are new to this, Jack is a grain of malted barley, but more than that: he is the unifying force behind all of the Pretty Things.
Fancy your own Jack D'Or style mustache?
