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(Jester King Art by Josh Cockrell & Katie Ross)
The impact of the coronavirus has forced breweries to get uber-creative to survive…And now one Austin area brewery is opening its land to picnic grounds and hiking trails…
And it’s in Texas Hill Country…How can you not love that?
In a May 27 post on its website Jeffrey Stuffings, who co-founded the legendary Jester King Brewery along with his brother Michael Steffing in 2010, announced a brilliant concept to turn its destination farm brewery into something even more special.
Yes the idea was in response to the need for social distancing brought on by the pandemic. But still it’s so whimsically ‘Jester King’ to begin with, that it might have happened eventually, COVID-19 or not.
Located on 165 acres of ranchland in Texas’ scenic Hill Country region, Jester king owns a spread of land as far as the eye can see, that in addition to the brewery itself, is home to a restaurant, a growing farming operation, an orchard, vineyard and even a goat pen.
(‘The Canopy” green space – Courtesy Jester King)
And now in this new age of physical distancing, Jester King is expanding its model and opening its grounds to hiking trails, picnic spots and wide-open vistas for roaming while drinking.
Jester King, a brewery renowned for its mixed culture and spontaneously fermented beer, has been proactive in addressing the impact of the coronavirus on its business and lifestyle.
“During the past 10 weeks, Jester King significantly narrowed an expected 75% loss to 40% by ramping up bread production, selling a sourdough starter pack and benefiting from upticks in off-site beer sales” according to CNN Business. “The brewery also conducted Zoom beer talks, offered up coloring books for children and ran a label-making contest.”
“We’re trying to take a very long term approach looking at this where it could be difficult to manage small business cash flow well into 2021,” Stuffings told the business website…
On May 29 Jester King six outdoor green spaces spread across a 250 yard radius.
And the brewery will soon open a two mile nature trail that it’s been carving out for the past 10 weeks, that will encompass the full breadth of Jester King’s natural beauty and wildlife. And this unfinished trail will be far from a kindergarten cake walk…
”Central Texas is sometimes underrated for its topography, so it won’t be a beginner hike,” Stuffings added.
And that sounds ideal accompanied with serious beer…
