Noblesse Oblige Au Baron & Jester King 25.4 oz

Au Baron & Jester King Noblesse Oblige 25.4 oz. bottle

French Biere de Garde

Brewed by: Au Baron & Jester King
Country: France/USA (TX)
Style: French Biere de Garde

ABV (Alcohol by Volume): 4.7%
BeerAdvocate.com rating: 88

Noblesse Oblige is the result of a 2015 collaboration between Au Baron in France and Jester King in Austin, Texas. It pours gold with a thin white head. Small nose of hops and honey. The hops (Brewers Gold, Sorachi Ace, Cascade, Simcoe) are of American origin, showcasing floral notes then exotic fruits and citrus. The house yeast of Brasserie Au Baron is rustic – yielding grassy and hay notes. The initial texture on the palate is soft and silky followed by a surge of hops. The herbaceous, fresh and fruity bitterness unfolds with a bed of cereals and a touch of caramel. This beer plays on two levels: a crisp, clean crunch and a sharp incisive bitterness. The final taste, beyond the bitterness is an impressive freshness and vivacity.  25.4 oz bottle

Brewery Information:

When the Au Baron café still served the mosaicists, marble cutters, and polishers, the Bailleux family, brewers passed from father to son and current owners of the Au Baron brewery, were still on the other side of the border.  They were already hard at work in the brewing vats, particularly at the Cavenaile brewery in Dour. Indeed, Désiré Bailleux, a renowned master brewer, had excelled in his craft there since 1879. His grandson Roger joined the business after studying fermentation at the Meurice Institute in Brussels. His two children, Alain and Martine, were born in the brewer's house located in the brewery courtyard.

Roger would bear the brunt of industrialized brewing and witness the brewery's closure. He would then leave with his wife and children for the Belgian Congo to join the Katanga Brewery. Following the colony's declaration of independence, he would go to join the Barré Brewery in Valenciennes, talented and swept up in the frenetic development of the sector.

He became a factory manager at Kanterbraü in Nantes and then Sochaux. He was forced to dismantle both factories in the name of consolidating production facilities. Roger then found himself a young retiree and moved permanently into his country house in Gussignies, nostalgic for the authentic era of the old farm breweries.

The adventure of the "Au Baron" brasserie began in 1973. Alain Bailleux acquired the last bistro in the village, located just opposite his parents' house. There he met Danielle, who would become his wife. Together, they embarked on their restaurant venture.

Given their success, they built a restaurant where they would prepare succulent grilled meats over a wood fire in an old brewery vat, salvaged by Roger from Kanterbraü. But the adventure didn't end there...

Later, Alain and his father Roger took on a challenge: to create a craft brewery, with beers that smelled of cereals and yeast, like those that Roger brewed at the beginning of his career.

This became a reality on June 8, 1989, when Gussignies inaugurated the village brewery with Saint-Médard, a beer inspired by the farm breweries of yesteryear. The following spring, as the undergrowth burst into yellow blossoms, the daffodil vintage emerged from the vats.

For the past few years, Florence and Xavier have taken over the reins of the family business and continue to make Au Baron prosper by developing the restaurant and the brewery respectively and by adding a local produce shop where you can buy beers and products from local producers.

Jester King is a world-renowned, award-winning brewery located on a beautiful ranch on the outskirts of Austin, Texas. They make wood-fired pizza and raise goats in a fun, relaxing, one-of-a-kind environment tied to time, place, and people.